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

Sept 8 — 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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