Amgen (AMGN.US) and AstraZeneca (AZN.US) have achieved positive research results with a combination drug regimen for the treatment of small cell lung cancer.
Researchers combined Amgen's Imdelltra with AstraZeneca's Imfinzi and found that for patients with aggressive lung cancer whose tumors had spread, the combination extended survival by approximately eight months compared to Imfinzi alone.
Small cell lung cancer is one of the cancer types with the worst prognosis. The results were presented on Saturday at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) annual congress in Madrid, Spain, and simultaneously published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The study showed that for patients whose cancer had not progressed after chemotherapy and other treatments, the combination of Imdelltra and Imfinzi reduced the risk of death by 58%. Jacob Sands, an oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute who participated in the study, called it an "unprecedented advance."
In terms of mechanism, Imdelltra is a bispecific T-cell engager that directs the immune system's T cells to recognize and kill cancer cells, while Imfinzi is an immune checkpoint inhibitor that releases immune suppression. The research suggests that combining a T-cell engager with an immune checkpoint inhibitor may help combat the most deadly cancers.
Imdelltra had previously been shown to extend survival in patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer who progressed after chemotherapy, but the drug is currently only available to patients whose disease has progressed after other treatments. Sands said making the drug available earlier is important, because typically only about half of patients treated for small cell lung cancer go on to receive subsequent treatment.
Regarding safety, approximately half of patients receiving the Imdelltra and Imfinzi combination experienced an inflammatory reaction called cytokine release syndrome, though most cases were mild; about 1% of patients developed neurological conditions affecting the brain. Amgen Chief Medical Officer Paul Burton said the combination treatment data is expected to improve further as the trial continues.
Earlier research showed that Imdelltra combined with Imfinzi or Roche's Tecentriq could help patients live longer. On AstraZeneca's side, Imfinzi is expected to become the company's best-selling drug next year.
Another study published on Saturday showed that Imfinzi combined with Pfizer's antibody-drug conjugate Padcev for preoperative treatment of patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer resulted in 64% of patients showing no disease progression after two years, compared to 45% in the control group, with overall survival data also positive. Joaquim Bellmunt, a professor at Harvard Medical School, said the combination could become an alternative to the current standard treatment of Keytruda plus Padcev, not because of superior efficacy, but because of milder side effects. David Fredrickson, Executive Vice President of AstraZeneca's oncology business unit, said this new approach will generate enthusiasm in the bladder cancer field.
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