AstraZeneca's Lung Cancer Drug Trial Disappoints, Triggering Biggest Single-Day Stock Drop in Seven Months

　　Cailian Press, September 10 (Editor Niuzhan Lin)AstraZeneca's shares plummeted more than 5% on Tuesday in London, marking the biggest single-day drop in seven months, after the British pharmaceutical giant announced disappointing results from a lung cancer drug trial.

Data show that, compared with the chemotherapy drug docetaxel, a phase 3 study of AstraZeneca's antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) datopotamab deruxtecan (also known as Dato-DXd) demonstrated it did not significantly extend patient survival.

The results of the TROPION-Lung01 Phase III clinical trial showed that, although the overall survival results of the study favored Dato-DXd, they did not demonstrate statistical significance.

However, the data does show that the overall survival期 for non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients taking Dato-DXd was 14.6 months, which is an increase of 2.3 months compared to the 12.3-month overall survival期 for patients receiving docetaxel.

Susan Galbraith, Executive Vice President of Oncology R&D at AstraZeneca, stated that the study results showed a "clinically meaningful" trend of improved survival rates in patients with advanced lung cancer.

These drug trials have been closely watched by investors, who hope that the drug will become another successful product following AstraZeneca's development of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Moreover, the preliminary trial results from July 2023 also disappointed the market, despite some success in slowing cancer progression.

Dato-DXd, co-developed by AstraZeneca and Japan's Daiichi Sankyo, is currently seeking approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), with expectations for review by the end of the year.

Citi Group commented that the prospect of Dato-DXd is "mixed," but their confidence in its approval "remains high," although the results announced on Monday have made the outlook more complex.

Analysts believe that the data from the drug trials could make the approval process more complicated and may negatively impact the likelihood of the drug being approved in the short term.

JPMorgan analysts claimed that this latest news is expected to lead the market to a more cautious view on the FDA approval of Dato-DXd by the end of the year. "If the company's stock underperforms, it will present a good buying opportunity, especially in 2025 when the company will have the best late-stage pipeline drugs in the industry."

Editor: Liu Mingliang