AstraZeneca-Hutchmed drug combination shows promise in advanced lung cancer trial

AstraZeneca (AZN) and China's Hutchmed said that a late-stage trial of their combined cancer drugs Tagrisso and Orpathys significantly improved progression-free survival when administered as an early-line treatment for a form of lung cancer.

The drug combination enabled patients in the trial to live longer without disease progression compared with Tagrisso alone as a first-line treatment for EGFR-mutated advanced non-small cell lung cancer in patients whose tumors showed moderate to high levels of the MET protein marker. Patients enrolled in the trial had not previously received treatment for their advanced disease.

The combination also showed encouraging benefits in overall survival, a key secondary endpoint of the study, the companies said.

"By combining Orpathys with Tagrisso, we have observed a clear clinical benefit that could reshape primary treatment strategy for this distinct patient population," said Yi-Long Wu, the trial's leading principal investigator.

Cancer therapies account for nearly half of AstraZeneca's total sales, with Tagrisso among its best-selling drugs. Orpathys is being co-developed with Hutchmed as the British drugmaker pursues its target of $80 billion in annual revenue by 2030.