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 AstraZeneca’s experimental anti-PD-L1 immunotherapy drug MEDI4736
will be tested alongside Lilly's approved medicine Cyramza, or
ramucirumab, the two companies said on Friday.
The early-stage Phase I trial will be run by Lilly but additional
details of the collaboration, including tumor types to be studied
and financial terms, were not disclosed.
MEDI4736 belongs to a hot new class of treatments designed to boost
the immune system in the battle against cancer, while Cyramza is
part of an older type of so-called antiangiogenic medicines that
starve tumors of blood supply.
Roche, the world's largest maker of cancer drugs, is already testing
a similar combination of its anti-PD-L1 drug MPDL3280A and its
antiangiogenic medicine Avastin.
For AstraZeneca, the tie-up with Lilly is a further step in the
company's declared aim of bringing in external partners to help make
the most of its experimental cancer drugs. It follows a deal last
month with Celgene.
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The potential of drugs that unleash the body's immune system to
fight cancer will be the main focus of the annual meeting of the
American Society of Clinical Oncology starting later on Friday in
Chicago.
(Reporting by Ben Hirschler. Editing by Jane Merriman)
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