AstraZeneca gets cancer trial boost for Lynparza drug
Progression-free rates in trial point to potential as a breakthrough medicine
A treatment developed by AstraZeneca has shown strong benefits for women newly diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the latest boost for the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker’s research and development-led growth strategy.
Lynparza’s potential as a breakthrough medicine for this group emerged as the findings of a trial known as SOLO-1 were unveiled at the European Society for Medical Oncology meeting in Munich on Sunday.
It showed that 60 per cent of newly diagnosed women whose disease had a particular mutation, BRCA, were progression-free at three years compared with about 27 per cent who had not received the drug.
Dave Fredrickson, head of the oncology business unit at AstraZeneca, said the results gave “hope that this will translate into long-term durable survival benefits in ovarian cancer and other areas of very high unmet need”.
Lynparza was initially approved in 2014 by the US Food and Drug Administration in late-stage BRCA-mutated ovarian cancer. Another study, SOLO-2, then examined its impact as a “second-line” treatment for ovarian cancer, given when an initial treatment has not worked, or stopped working.
Mr Fredrickson said that, with the SOLO-1 study, it was moving the treatment into “an early setting where there is curative intent from the perspective of both physician and patient, and that’s why these results are so important”.
The SOLO-1 results are the latest to point to the potential of Lynparza; last year AstraZeneca and US drugmaker Merck agreed to collaborate in developing and commercialising the medicine. Last week both companies announced that the FDA had granted “orphan drug designation” — a status given to medicines to treat rare diseases — for Lynparza in pancreatic cancer.
Analysts, however, have suggested the efficacy demonstrated in the SOLO-1 study may yield limited commercial returns because the pool of patients with the relevant genetic mutation is a relatively small percentage of overall sufferers.
Andrew Baum, from Citi, said he anticipated “only [about] $500m near-term sales n this indication [or particular treatment]”.
In general, however, he suggested that the market was “underestimating” Lynparza potential for treatment in other areas, “notably in metastatic ovarian and prostate cancer”.
He highlighted Citi’s forecast of $4bn in revenue from the drug by 2023 “versus consensus of $1.8bn”.