2nd Apr 2026 10:46
(Alliance News) - AstraZeneca PLC on Thursday posted encouraging phase-three trial results for its liver cancer treatment combination.
The Cambridge, England-based pharmaceutical firm's shares rose 0.1% to 15,032.00 pence on Thursday morning in London.
AstraZeneca said that its drugs Imfinzi and Imjudo, combined with lenvatinib and transarterial chemoembolisation or TACE, showed "clinically meaningful improvement" in progression-free survival rates for liver cancer patients.
Interim data was collected from 760 patients across 22 countries with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma, or HCC, which is eligible for embolisation.
The investigational arm of the study dosed participants with single tremelimumab regular interval durvalumab or STRIDE, with or without lenvatinib, before TACE, and then alongside TACE.
Though it has not been "formally tested at this time", AstraZeneca noted that STRIDE plus TACE versus TACE alone showed "strong trends" toward improved progression-free survival and overall survival.
"The trial will continue to follow [overall survival] and other key secondary endpoints in both investigational arms," the company said.
Citing research from the American Cancer Society, AstraZeneca emphasised that HCC is the most common form of cancer, but citing separate research, added that "most patients who receive embolisation experience disease progression or recurrence within six to ten months".
Susan Galbraith, the company's executive vice president of Oncology Haematology R&D, said the trial results build on existing evidence in support of the STRIDE regimen. She added: "We are discussing these positive data with global regulatory authorities while awaiting the final results from the key secondary endpoints."
Imjudo is an antibody treatment which fosters cancer cell death. Imfinzi, or durvalumab, is also an antibody, which works by binding to the PD-L1 protein and blocking the interaction of PD-L1 with the PD-1 and CD80 proteins, "countering the tumour's immune-evading tactics," the drug company explained.
Imfinzi is approved for various indications of non-small cell lung cancer, bladder cancer and endometrial cancer. It is cleared in combination with chemotherapy to treat locally advanced or metastatic biliary tract cancer, and in combination with Imjudo in unresectable HCC. In Japan and the EU, Imfinzi has monotherapy clearance for unresectable HCC. It is also being tested in breast cancer and ovarian cancer.
By Holly Munks, Alliance News reporter
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