26th Oct 2026 09:39
(Alliance News) - AstraZeneca PLC on Saturday and Sunday reported a series of positive clinical trial results for ongoing clinical trials at the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress 2026 in Madrid.
On Saturday, the Cambridge, England-based pharmaceutical company reported phase 3 results showing that Imfinzi, in combination with Amgen Inc's Imdelltra, reduced the risk of death by 58% compared with Imfinzi alone in patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer.
The combination achieved a median overall survival of 21.1 months, compared with 12.7 months for Imfinzi alone, representing the longest median overall survival reported in a phase 3 trial in this patient population. Benefits in overall and progression-free survival were consistent across all prespecified subgroups, including patients with brain or liver metastases.
Also on Saturday, AstraZeneca reported positive results for perioperative Imfinzi combined with three cycles of enfortumab vedotin before surgery in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer. More than three-quarters of patients receiving the combination were alive at two years, while the treatment reduced the risk of disease progression, recurrence, not undergoing surgery or death by 49% compared with the standard-of-care comparator.
On Sunday, the company announced positive phase 3 results from the Saffron trial, showing that Tagrisso, combined with Hutchmed China Ltd's Orpathys, reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 45% compared with chemotherapy in patients with EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer. The combination also reduced the risk of death by 32%, extending median overall survival to 17.8 months from 12.9 months with chemotherapy. Median progression-free survival improved to 7.6 months from 5.4 months.
The results for Imfinzi and Tagrisso were presented at the congress and published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Finally, AstraZeneca reported positive phase 3 results from the trial of sonesitatug vedotin, or Sone-Ve, in patients with advanced gastric, gastroesophageal junction or oesophageal adenocarcinoma expressing the protein Claudin 18.2. In the trial's primary analysis, the treatment reduced the risk of death by 53%, demonstrating a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in overall survival compared with investigator's choice of therapy in the second-line and later treatment setting. The findings were also presented at ESMO.
AstraZeneca shares rose 1.0% to 12,946.00 pence in London on Monday morning. Hutchmed shares were 0.7% lower at 214.50 pence. Amgen shares were 0.8% higher at USD442.86 in New York during premarket trading on Monday.
By Camilla Borri, Alliance News reporter
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