16th May 2019 10:45
LONDON (Alliance News) - AstraZeneca PLC said Thursday said it will present positive data from phase three trials of cancer drugs Lynparza and Imfinzi at the 2019 American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting.
This includes late-breaking results from its Lynparza Polo trial, which is the first positive phase three trial of a PARP inhibitor in germline BRCA-mutated metastatic pancreatic cancer.
PARP is a protein that aids the repair of damaged cells. By inhibiting this protein, Lynparza is intended to prevent cancer cells from repairing themselves, causing them to die.
The results will show the progression-free survival and "important clinical benefit" of Lynparza in advanced pancreatic cancer, Astra said.
Furthermore, Astra said the results of its Solo-3 trial of Lynparza in advanced germline BRCA-mutated ovarian cancer highlight the efficacy of Lynparza versus standard-of-care chemotherapy for patients who had already undergone two or more lines of treatment.
BRCA mutations increase the risk of certain cancers but also play a role in cell repair. When patients have a faulty BRCA gene, their cancer cells are already at a disadvantage in terms of cell repair. Patients with BRCA mutations more likely to benefit from PARP inhibitors, as their cancer cells already have poor repair systems.
In terms of Imfinzi, the three-year overall survival take from the Pacific trial gives new evidence that there is a long-term survival benefit to the drug for unresectable stage three non-small cell lung cancer patients whose disease did not progress after chemoradiation therapy.
"Imfinzi is the only immunotherapy to demonstrate significant [overall survival] benefits in this curative-intent setting, and this data reaffirms the Pacific regimen as the standard of care for these patients," said Astra.
Dave Fredrickson, executive vice president of Oncology at Astra, said: "Our data for Lynparza in BRCA-mutated metastatic pancreatic cancer and for Imfinzi in unresectable stage three non-small cell lung cancer illustrate our ambition to change medical practice for better patient outcomes."
Shares in Astra were down 0.4% at 5,796.00 pence on Thursday.
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