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

Sept. 8 (Reuters) - 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.

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.

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.