Astrazeneca Aims to Rebuild Oncology Reputation in ESMO Congress

Publish Date : 2017-09-06

Following huge clinical trial hindrance in lung cancer last month, the British pharma giant, AstraZeneca will look forward to restoring its reputation in oncology field next week when it brings out complete details of two major clinical trials undertaking the illness in diverse ways.

The British drug manufacturer has previously said that the research studies which referred as FLAURA and PACIFIC satisfied their pre-defined objectives but the precise range of the gain will only be revealed on 9th September at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) congress in Madrid, Spain.

The PACIFIC research study will disclose how much the instilled immunotherapy drug Imfinzi can aid with non-metastatic or early lung cancer, where it is not feasible to operate.

At present, there are no sanctioned or standard treatments for this level of disease and potent data might open up opportunities worth more than USD 1 billion although it will yet be lesser than for higher level of disease, where a blend of tremelimumab and Imfinzi failed to work as desired.

Although details are kept reserved under covers, yet physicians are hopeful. The president-elect of European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) congress, Dr. Solange Peters, who is from the Centre HospitalierUniversitaire Vaudois in Lausanne said that he has seen the data, and it is extremely thrilling.

Meanwhile, Jamie Freedman, oncology business head of AstraZeneca has depicted the trial results as potentially transformative.

The FLAURA research study will demonstrate how easily AstraZeneca’s new drug Tagrisso confines lung cancer at bay in patients with a certain genetic alteration. In this case, physicians want confirmation that it is significantly superior to older treatment options that work in a similar manner.

The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) congress meeting, which will be held from September 8th to September 12th, will also be significant for other drug manufacturers, as doctors and capitalists are eager to see how Eli Lilly’s trial CDK4/6 drug abemaciclib compete with marketed treatments from Novartis and Pfizer.

Merck & Co, Roche, and Bristol-Myers Squibb will also present updates regarding the progress of a range of clinical trials on immunotherapies, whereas smaller pharma companies will reveal data on other innovative medicines and treatments.

These involve the United States biotech company Incyte, which has reported promising results on Thursday for a small melanoma study research testing for its IDO drug epacadostat. It is a new type of immunotherapy with Merck's popular drug Keytruda.

The Incyte data were issued in a scientific summary published online ahead of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) congress.