Amgen-AstraZeneca drug combo helps lung cancer patients live longer in late-stage study

(Corrects headline to say Amgen-AstraZeneca drug combo, not AstraZeneca's drug ​combo)

Sept 8 (Reuters) - AstraZeneca said on Tuesday its cancer drug, Imfinzi, combined with Amgen's targeted ‌immunotherapy, Imdelltra, significantly improved overall survival of extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer ⁠patients in a late-stage ​trial.

Here are some details:

• ⁠The trial tested the combination as a ‌maintenance treatment against ‌Imfinzi alone in patients whose disease had not ⁠progressed after standard ⁠induction therapy.

• Apart from overall survival, the drug combination also improved progression-free survival and response rate. No new safety concerns were identified.

• Cancer therapies make up nearly half of AstraZeneca's sales; ‌Imfinzi contributed $6.06 billion to the ​drugmaker's oncology product revenue of $25.62 billion in 2025.

• Imfinzi, already approved for several cancers, is a human monoclonal antibody that blocks tumour mechanisms that help cancers evade and suppress the immune system, while enhancing the body's anti‑cancer immune response.

• ​Investor confidence in the drugmaker has been dented ‌by a series ‌of ⁠blows in recent months, including the surprise failure of nerve disease drug Wainua in a late-stage heart disease trial in July, and most recently, the ‌discontinuation of its ​trial of lung cancer drug, volrustomig, ‌in August.

(Reporting by ⁠Raechel ​Thankam Job in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo and ​Sahal Muhammed)

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