Imdelltra combination reduced risk of death by 58% — CNBC
Adding Amgen's Imdelltra to AstraZeneca's Imfinzi immunotherapy reduced the risk of death by 58% in patients with extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer. Full results from a late-stage clinical trial showed that median overall survival in the combination therapy group was 21.1 months, compared with 12.7 months among patients who received Imfinzi alone.
CNBC reports this. The trial evaluated the combination as maintenance therapy for people who had previously received Imfinzi and chemotherapy and whose disease had not progressed. According to Amgen, nearly 80% of patients who started taking both drugs were alive after one year, compared with 53% in the Imfinzi group.
Results for an aggressive type of cancer
Small-cell lung cancer is a fast-growing form of the disease. Extensive stage means that the cancer has spread beyond the lung where it originated. Lead investigator Jacob Sands, deputy director of the Lowe Center for Thoracic Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, noted that the benefits of the combination therapy were observed across different subgroups, including patients with brain or liver metastases.
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According to Sands, chemotherapy often produces an initial effect, but the disease frequently returns or progresses within several months. Immunotherapy has helped some patients achieve disease control lasting several years, but such a long-term effect has remained unavailable to most.
How the drugs work
Imdelltra binds to the DLL3 protein on cancer cells and the CD3 protein on immune system T cells. This brings T cells closer to the tumor and helps the immune system attack cancer cells. Imfinzi blocks the PD-L1 protein, which cancer cells can use to evade the immune response.
Imdelltra is currently approved for patients whose small-cell lung cancer progressed during or after platinum-based chemotherapy. The study was presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology congress. It did not compare this combination with other first-line treatment approaches.
