Amgen-AstraZeneca lung cancer drug combo boosts survival in late-stage trial

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

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.

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

• Amgen's Imdelltra received ⁠the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's accelerated approval in 2024 and traditional approval in 2025 for extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer.

• Last year, the drug brought in $513 million in sales for Amgen. Cancer therapies account for about 23% of Amgen's ‌total sales.

• Imdelltra is part of ​Amgen's pipeline of bispecific antibodies designed to attach to a cancer cell and an immune cell, bringing them together so that the body's immune system can kill the cancer.

• 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 anticancer immune response.

• ‌Investor confidence in ‌AstraZeneca has ⁠been dented by a series of setbacks 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 and ​Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo, Sahal Muhammed and ​Tasim Zahid)

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