14th Sep 2026 03:47
(Alliance News) - AstraZeneca PLC and Daiichi Sankyo Co Ltd on Monday reported their medicine Enhertu kept the disease from worsening for longer in patients with advanced lung cancer driven by a mutation in the gene that produces the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2.
HER2‑mutated non‑small cell lung cancer is an aggressive form of lung cancer that often spreads early and leaves patients with few effective treatment options.
Tokyo-based pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo discovered Enhertu and together with Cambridge, England-based pharmaceuticals firm AstraZeneca, co‑develop and co‑commercialise the medicine worldwide.
The firms said Enhertu delayed disease progression for a median of 14.3 months when used as the first treatment, compared with 8.3 months for the current standard combination of pembrolizumab and chemotherapy.
The medicine reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 37%.
In the trial, 70% of patients responded to the treatment, compared with 45% for the standard regimen. Patients receiving Enhertu also showed longer durability of response and a favourable trend in time to second disease progression.
"These results add to the growing body of evidence supporting Enhertu as an important treatment for patients with HER2 alterations and underscore its potential role at the time of metastatic diagnosis, when treatment has the greatest opportunity to improve outcomes," said Susan Galbraith, executive vice president, Oncology Haematology Research and Development, AstraZeneca.
John Tsai, global head, R&D, Daiichi Sankyo, added: "The progression-free survival benefit of six months and strong response rates seen in Destiny-Lung04 reinforce the importance of targeting HER2 directly in these patients and support the potential of Enhertu in the first-line setting where delaying disease progression for as long as possible is a critical goal."
Daiichi Sankyo shares were trading 1.6% higher at JPY2,816.50 each in Tokyo on Monday morning, while AstraZeneca shares ended 0.3% lower at 11,727.00 pence in London on Friday.
Separately, AstraZeneca also reported new findings from the Adaura late‑stage trial showing its medicine Tagrisso delivered an eight‑year survival benefit in patients with early‑stage lung cancer driven by a mutation in the gene that produces the epidermal growth factor receptor.
The EGFR-mutated lung cancer is a form of non‑small cell lung cancer that carries a change in the EGFR, a protein on the surface of cells that helps regulate how cells grow and divide.
When the receptor is mutated, tumour cells can grow faster and are more likely to return after surgery.
In the Adaura trial, which studies patients whose lung cancer has been fully removed with curative intent, AstraZeneca said Tagrisso cut the risk of death by about 47% in patients with stage two to three-A disease and by 48% across all stages in the study.
An estimated 74% of patients receiving Tagrisso were alive at eight years versus 58% for placebo in the primary group, with the benefit consistent across all predefined subgroups.
"These results underscore the importance of treating early and reinforce Tagrisso as the adjuvant standard of care and backbone therapy across stages of the disease," AstraZeneca's Galbraith added.
By Judy Amaca, Alliance News reporter Asia-Pacific
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