AstraZeneca's Imfinzi Demonstrates Significant Survival Benefit in Aggressive Lung Cancer, Becomes First Immunotherapy to Meet Dual Endpoints

Gelonghui April 7 | AstraZeneca stated that its anticancer drug Imfinzi helps improve the survival rate of patients with an aggressive type of early-stage lung cancer, making it the first immunotherapy to achieve two key trial objectives. AstraZeneca said that in a late-stage trial, the drug showed "statistically and clinically meaningful improvements" in overall survival and delaying cancer progression for patients whose conditions did not worsen after chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Imfinzi is a human monoclonal antibody that blocks the ability of tumors to evade and suppress the immune system while enhancing the body's anti-cancer immune response, serving as an alternative to toxic chemotherapy. Imfinzi’s sales reached $4.24 billion in 2023, making it a "blockbuster drug" in AstraZeneca’s main oncology portfolio, accounting for more than 20% of its total revenue. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration first approved the drug for the treatment of a type of bladder cancer in 2017, and in March 2020, for the treatment of extensive-stage small cell lung cancer.