Amgen (AMGN.US) and AstraZeneca (AZN.US) combination therapy extends small cell lung cancer survival by eight months, reduces risk of death by 58%

Zhihu Finance APP reports that Amgen (AMGN.US) and AstraZeneca (AZN.US) have achieved positive research results with their combination therapy for small cell lung cancer. Researchers combined Amgen's Imdelltra with AstraZeneca's Imfinzi and found that, among patients with aggressive lung cancer that had already spread, this combination prolonged survival by about eight months compared to Imfinzi alone. Small cell lung cancer is one of the most challenging cancer types in terms of prognosis.

The results were presented on Saturday at the annual meeting of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) held in Madrid, Spain, and were 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, combined therapy with Imdelltra and Imfinzi reduced the risk of death by 58%. Jacob Sands, an oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute who participated in the research, described this as an “unprecedented advance.”

Mechanistically, Imdelltra is a bispecific T cell engager that directs immune T cells to recognize and kill cancer cells; Imfinzi is an immune checkpoint inhibitor that lifts immune system suppression. The research suggests that combining T cell engagers with immune checkpoint inhibitors may help fight the deadliest cancers. Imdelltra has previously been shown to extend survival in patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer whose disease has progressed after chemotherapy, but currently, it is only approved for patients with disease progression after other treatments. Sands noted it is important to make this drug available earlier, as typically only about half of patients treated for small cell lung cancer receive subsequent therapies.

In terms of safety, about half of the patients receiving the combined Imdelltra and Imfinzi treatment experienced an inflammatory response called cytokine release syndrome, but most cases were mild; about 1% of patients developed neurological disorders affecting the brain. Amgen Chief Medical Officer Paul Burton stated that as the trial continues, data from the combination therapy are expected to further improve. Early studies show that Imdelltra combined with either Imfinzi or Roche’s Tecentriq can enable patients to live longer.

On AstraZeneca's side, Imfinzi is expected to become the company's best-selling drug next year. Another study announced on Saturday showed that preoperative treatment with Imfinzi combined with Pfizer’s antibody-drug conjugate Padcev in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer resulted in 64% of patients having no disease progression after two years, compared to 45% in the control group. Overall survival data were also positive. Harvard Medical School professor Joaquim Bellmunt indicated this combination could become an alternative to the current standard therapy of Keytruda combined with Padcev, not because it is more effective, but due to milder side effects. David Fredrickson, Executive Vice President of AstraZeneca's Oncology Business Unit, stated that this new approach will generate enthusiasm in the field of bladder cancer.