AstraZeneca’s acquisition of a cancer drug for up to $1billion has been marred by disappointing results in late-stage trials, causing yet another clinical setback.
The FTSE100 company stated that phase III results of datopotamabderuxtecan (also known as Dato DXd) for a form of advanced breast carcinoma did not improve the overall survival rate for patients. AstraZeneca in Cambridge said that the trial had not achieved “statistical significant” when compared to chemotherapy.
The company’s shares were weakened by similar disappointing results in an study on late-stage lung carcinoma that was conducted earlier this month. Investors further reduced their financial expectations for the drug, resulting in a 196p drop, or 1.7%, which brought shares down to £115.84. Dato-DXd, a drug AstraZeneca purchased for $1 billion upfront four years ago, is now being developed in collaboration with Daiichi Sankyo of Japan.
This is one of the most important drugs that AstraZeneca has in its pipeline. It aims to continue the successful launch of new treatments in particular in oncology. These have made it the most valuable company listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Susan Galbraith said that despite the disappointing headlines, “there are evidences of the clinical benefit of datopotamab in this setting”, and that the company will “continue to discuss with regulatory authorities”.
Shore Capital analysts said that they expect the Food and Drug Administration to make a decision on approval for this type breast cancer in the first six months of the next year. However, “in the absence a clear benefit overall we believe approval is less likely”.
Analysts from Barclays said that this study’s potential commercial value is “minor”, due to Enhertu being available in the same context.
We believe that the majority of sales for more than $5 billion in drug targets are coming from non-small cells lung cancer, as a primary treatment.
AstraZeneca’s disappointing update was tempered by positive pipeline developments elsewhere. This included its rare disease business, and on Friday, FluMist, an needle-free nasal mist, became the first self administered influenza vaccine to be approved in the US.
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