AstraZeneca PLC (LON:AZN) said its blockbuster immunotherapy treatment Imfinzi has been approved as part of a drug combination by regulators in Japan for an aggressive form of lung cancer.
Doctors in the country can now use the antibody, in combination with two chemotherapy treatments, to treat of patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC), which is a fast-growing form of the disease that typically recurs and progresses in the face of chemotherapy.
Trials have shown that Imfinzi plus chemotherapy reduced the risk of death by 27% versus chemotherapy alone.
“This approval of Imfinzi provides an important new immunotherapy option in Japan for patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer,” Dave Fredrickson, AstraZeneca'’s executive vice president for oncology said in a statement.
“These patients have an especially poor prognosis, with only two per cent surviving beyond five years. Imfinzi, in combination with chemotherapy, delivers a sustained survival benefit and prolonged treatment response with a convenient dosing regimen given every four weeks during maintenance.”
In the first half of 2020, Imfinzi was one of AstraZeneca’s four best-selling medicines, generating US$954mln of revenues.