J&J’s lung cancer therapy succeeds in head-to-head study with AstraZeneca’s drug

J&J’s lung cancer therapy succeeds in head-to-head study with AstraZeneca’s drug

Sept 28 (Reuters) – Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) said on Thursday its cancer drug combination helped patients with a type of non small-cell lung cancer live longer without the disease worsening compared with AstraZeneca’s (AZN.L) blockbuster cancer drug Tagrisso.

J&J’s therapy combination of antibody treatment Rybrevant and experimental drug lazertinib showed a clinically meaningful improvement in progression-free survival rate in patients.

The drugmaker expects the combination to become a first-line treatment for non small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with a type of mutation in EGFR protein that causes rapid tumor cell growth.

A rival treatment combining AstraZeneca’s Tagrisso and chemotherapy also recently succeeded in a late-stage study.

The trial showed that the Tagrisso-chemo combination reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 38% when compared to Tagrisso alone.

The bar for J&J’s study was high because Tagrisso has a compelling first line commercial profile, and physicians may prefer use of a single therapy compared to combinations for first line treatment, said Leerink Partners analyst David Risinger.

Rybrevant received approval in 2021 for only 2-3% of non small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients – a small subset that had a specific type of mutation in EGFR protein.

J&J said an interim analysis of data on overall survival for patients showed a trend “favoring” its combination therapy compared to AstraZeneca’s (AZN.L) drug. It also said the safety profile of its combination therapy was consistent with previous studies.

J&J plans to submit the data from its study, which enrolled 1,074 patients, for an upcoming medical conference, including additional details on secondary goals.

The drugmaker is also evaluating the therapy against treatment with lazertinib alone as part of the trial.