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 The clinical trial, called NEPTUNE, was testing Imfinzi along with
tremelimumab and comparing the combination to platinum-based
chemotherapy to treat patients whose cancer had spread to other
parts of the body.
London-listed AstraZeneca said though the trial involved a wide
range of patients, the primary group being tested had high levels of
mutations in their DNA.
The combination treatment did not meet the main goal of improving
overall survival in the primary group, the company said.
Mutations in tumors are measured using a system called tumor
mutational burden (TMB) and the primary group had TMB of 20 or more.
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Imfinzi belongs to the immunotherapy class of treatments that boost
the body's own immune system to fight cancer, and tumors with high
levels of TMB may be more visible to the immune system.
Rival immunotherapies include Bristol-Myers Squibb's Opdivo.
NSCLC accounts for up to 85% of lung cancers, by far the leading
cause of cancer death among men and women, according to the American
Cancer Society.
(The story corrects paragraph two to remove reference to
tremelimumab as 'FDA-approved'.)
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur
and Patrick Graham)
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