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AstraZeneca’s Lynparza breast cancer drug impresses in phase III trial

Published: 08:42 05 Jun 2017 BST

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Lynparza is just one of several late-stage cancer drugs that Astra has in its pipeline

Investors may well be more concerned with the upcoming results of AstraZeneca PLC’s (LON:AZN) MYSTIC lung cancer study, but the Anglo-Swedish pharma giant has had some decent success with its OlympiAD breast cancer trial.

At today’s 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago – the world’s largest cancer conference – Astra revealed that its novel cancer drug, Lynparza, boosted the survival prospects of patients with an aggressive form of breast cancer, known as HER2-negative.

Patients who took two Lynparza tablets twice a day typically went for seven months before their cancer became worse, compared to a ‘progression-free survival’ for those on chemotherapy of just over four months.

The data pave the way for Astra to secure regulatory approval for the treatment.

“The OlympiAD results shared today mark the first time a targeted therapy shows benefit over the current standard of care for patients with HER2-negative gBRCA-mutated metastatic breast cancer,” said AZ’s chief medical officer Sean Bohen.

“This also represents an important milestone for Lynparza as this is the first positive phase III trial in which a PARP inhibitor has shown a significant benefit for patients outside of ovarian cancer.”

What is a PARP inhibitor?

Lynparza is part of new class of treatments known as PARP inhibitors which work by trying to stop cancer cells from repairing themselves.

They appear to have a positive effect on patients who have inherited the BRCA mutation that significantly increases their chances of developing ovarian or breast cancer.

Lynparza has been approved for some ovarian cancer patients, as have a couple of other rival medicines, but no breast cancer therapies have been green-lighted.

Sales of the medicine have struggled given the competition in the ovarian cancer space, but Astra hopes a string of approvals in breast cancer would change that.

Lynparza is just one of several late-stage cancer drugs that FTSE 100-listed AstraZeneca hopes to use to build a successful oncology franchise.

The markets were generally unenthused by the developments however, with shares opening broadly flat at £53.58.

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