AstraZeneca's lung cancer drug meets main goal in late-stage trial

[July 18, 2016]  (Reuters) - AstraZeneca Plc said its experimental lung cancer drug Tagrisso met its main goal in a late-stage study.

The tablet, which has won early approval from both U.S. and European regulators, is one of several cancer medicines AstraZeneca hopes will rebuild its sales following patent losses on older drugs.

AstraZeneca said Tagrisso showed superior progression-free survival compared to standard platinum-based chemotherapy.

The trial assessed Tagrisso's efficacy and safety as a second-line treatment for certain kinds of lung cancer, the drugmaker said.

Second-line therapies are used when initial, or first-line, treatments do not produce adequate results.

AstraZeneca said a full evaluation of the data is ongoing.

(Reporting by Mamidipudi Soumithri in Bengaluru; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)

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