LONDON (Reuters) - An experimental lung cancer pill from AstraZeneca delays disease progression by more than a year, according to new data presented at a medical meeting on Friday.
The drug, AZD9291, is a once daily, selective, irreversible EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) designed to target both the activating sensitising mutation, EGFRm, and T790M, the genetic mutation responsible for EGFR TKI treatment resistance in up to approximately two-thirds of cases of EGFRm advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the company says.
The latest data from the ongoing AURA study of AZD9291 in patients with advanced EGFRm NSCLC who also have the T790M resistance mutation demonstrated a median progression free survival (PFS) of 13.5 months.
The data were presented at the European Lung Cancer Conference in Geneva.
"As AURA continues to mature, and the trend in progression free survival and durable clinical response is maintained, this may support the potential for AZD9291 as a future treatment option for advanced EGFRm NSCLC," said AURA principal investigator Dr Pasi A. Jänne Director, Lowe Center for Thoracic Oncology Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Professor of Medicine Harvard Medical School in Boston.
AZD9291, which the company expects to file for U.S. approval in the second quarter of 2015, is one of a number of cancer medicines AstraZeneca is hoping will rebuild its sales following patent losses on older drugs.
AZD9291, like a rival product in development at Clovis Oncology, targets a genetic mutation that helps tumours evade current lung cancer pills, including AstraZeneca's own established product Iressa (gefitinib).
During its defence against a $118 billion takeover attempt by Pfizer last year, AstraZeneca said it believed AZD9291 could sell as much as $3 billion a year.
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