AstraZeneca's stomach cancer drug extends overall survival in late-stage trial
AZN•AstraZeneca's experimental drug sone-ve extended median overall survival to 10 months, versus 5 months with chemotherapy, in patients with advanced stomach cancer. The trial missed its progression-free survival goal.
1. Survival benefit reported
Patients treated with sone-ve lived a median of 10 months, compared with 5 months for patients given their doctor's choice of chemotherapy, reducing the risk of death by 53%. AstraZeneca oncology executive Susan Galbraith called the five-month improvement clinically significant.
2. Trial details and outlook
The 532-patient study enrolled patients whose tumours had a claudin 18.2 cutoff of at least 25%. Galbraith said the lower threshold could double the number of patients eligible for treatment and support testing the drug earlier in therapy. AstraZeneca expects peak sales of $3 billion to $5 billion, while analysts' estimates are closer to $1 billion.
3. Safety and comparison
Serious side effects occurred in 36.4% of patients receiving sone-ve and 44.8% receiving chemotherapy; stomach-related side effects occurred in 11.1% and 6.3%, respectively. Analysts said the progression-free survival miss makes comparisons with rival IBI343 harder.
