AstraZeneca and drugmaker release promising cancer data

Attendees walk through the halls of the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Chicago.

Tim Boyle | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Do you think a friend or colleague should receive this newsletter? share this link Sign up with them.

Good morning! I’m back in New York City after spending last weekend in Chicago American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting.

More than 5,000 research abstracts have been published or published in ASCO. This includes data on existing drugs, experimental treatments, artificial intelligence tools and ideas to improve patient care.

Here are some data highlights and executive comments from the big companies I follow:

AstraZeneca Big win:

The company’s second-best-selling drug, Tagrisso, Reduce risk of disease progression or death It showed an 84% reduction in efficacy compared with placebo in patients with stage III non-small cell lung cancer caused by mutations in the EGFR gene, according to new late-stage trial results. The treatment kept the disease under control for a median of more than three years, or 39 months, compared with about five months for patients who received placebo.
Dave Fredrickson Executive Vice President, Oncology Business Unit, AstraZeneca tell me: “Our patients have almost three years before they hear news about disease progression, and half of them haven’t even heard the news, which means as we continue to follow this study, we hope to see long-term durability. A response we can begin to call a cure.
Tagrisso’s data “will change practice,” David Spigel, chief scientific officer of the Sarah Cannon Institute in Nashville, said at a news conference last week.
AstraZeneca immunotherapy Imfinzi Reduce risk of death Another late-stage trial showed that patients with limited-stage small cell lung cancer experienced a 27% reduction in efficacy after chemotherapy and radiation compared with placebo. The presentation of the Tagrisso and Imfinzi trials received a standing ovation at ASCO.
Meanwhile, AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo’s targeted cancer treatment Enhertu Reduce risk of disease progression or death Chemotherapy was 38 percent less effective compared with women with a certain type of metastatic breast cancer who had low expression of the HER2 protein.
AstraZeneca’s “substantial positive data” at ASCO reinforces the company’s goal of $80 billion in revenue by 2030, TDCowen analyst Steve Scala wrote in a note Thursday.

Pfizer Showing off its bet on cancer:

Pfizer’s drug Lorbrena can help patients live longer without cancer progression, and most people feel the benefits for more than five years, data from a late-stage trial shows. The drug also reduced the risk of cancer progression in patients’ brains.
Chris Boshoff, chief oncology officer, Pfizer Tell Me: “Generally speaking, in cancer medicine, you always want to have the best drug first. So that’s why we believe these data … will lead to (Lorbrena) becoming the first choice for this particular form of lung cancer.” Standard” first-line treatment.
Treatment options include Pfizer’s targeted cancer treatment Adcetris Reduce risk of death Patients with a certain type of lymphoma experienced a 37% reduction in efficacy compared with chemotherapy alone, according to detailed data from a late-stage trial.

Merck, modern Other cancer vaccine data are impressive:

Merck and Moderna’s much-hyped personalized cancer vaccine, combined with the immunotherapy Keytruda, improved survival and showed durable efficacy in a mid-stage study of patients with severe melanoma. Patients who received this vaccine combined with Keytruda had an overall survival rate of 96% after 2.5 years. That compares with 90.2 percent of people taking Keytruda alone.
Marjorie Green, head of global oncology clinical development at Merck Tell me: “What’s really exciting to me is seeing how durable the data is as we look at the three-year update.”
Stephane Bancel, CEO, Moderna Tell me that progress so far in a Phase 3 trial of the combination to treat advanced melanoma is “exceeding our plans.”

Bristol-Myers SquibbA combination of treatments showing promise as first-line treatment for liver cancer:

Treatment with the company’s immunotherapies Opdivo and Yervoy Reduce risk of death It was compared with standard treatments (Merck and Eisai’s Lenvima or Bayer’s Nexavar) in patients with previously untreated advanced liver cancer, according to late-stage clinical trial data. The median overall survival for patients taking this combination was 23.7 months, compared with 20.6 months for those taking the other two drugs.
Meanwhile, Bristol-Myers Squibb’s lung cancer drug Krazati Delay tumor growth There was a delay of nearly two months in late-stage clinical trials. Patients who received the drug lived an average of 5.5 months before their cancer progressed or died. By comparison, the median time for patients who received chemotherapy was 3.8 months.

Johnson & Johnson Shows a more convenient version of Rybrevant:

Johnson & Johnson releases latest late-stage trial data for its lung cancer shot Rybrevant is combined with a drug called lazertinib. Studies show that injectable dosage forms are comparable to an approved version for patients with a certain type of non-small cell lung cancer. (The approved form of the drug is administered via intravenous infusion, which can be lengthy and cumbersome for patients.) The company plans to seek approval of an injectable version of Rybrevant in the U.S.

Eli Lilly and Company An improved oncology pipeline is proposed:

At an ASCO event, Eli Lilly presented investors with late-stage and early-stage experimental drugs in its oncology pipeline, as well as updates on its existing cancer treatments, including Verzenio and Jaypirca. This comes five years after the company announced its launch Acquisition of Loxo Oncologywhich initiated a reorganization of the cancer division (and involved the termination of much of Eli Lilly’s product line at the time.)
Jake Van Naarden, President of Loxo@Lilly, Tell me the windfall from Eli Lilly’s popular obesity and diabetes drugs is a rising tide that benefits all boats, including the company’s oncology business: “In fact, another thing is certain What’s underappreciated, and that’s the success that the company is having right now, is that the incretin portfolio really puts Eli Lilly in a unique position to invest in other things, both for patients and financially.

Please feel free to send Annika any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data: annikakim.constantino@nbcuni.com.

Latest Healthcare Technology

Report finds digital physical therapy tools provide clinical benefits

Patients with musculoskeletal conditions who prefer to stay in their pajamas received some welcome news Wednesday: They can receive meaningful care in the comfort of their own homes, according to a new report from the Peterson Institute for Health Technology.

PHTI is a non-profit organization that conducts independent evaluations of digital health solutions. In its latest report, PHTI reviewed virtual musculoskeletal tools from Hinge Health, Sword Health, Omada Health, DarioHealth, Kaia Health, RecoveryOne, Limber Health and Vori Health.

Musculoskeletal disorders limit a patient’s mobility and may affect joints, bones, and muscles. These conditions are often associated with pain and can be treated with medications, surgery or rehabilitation such as physical therapy.

According to PHTI, about one-third of people in the United States have musculoskeletal disorders, and they account for almost 10% of the country’s health care spending freed Wednesday.

The organization set out to evaluate whether existing virtual tools could reduce healthcare costs or provide meaningful benefits to patients. PHTI found that some of these solutions “provided patients with clinical benefits comparable to in-person physical therapy,” the release states.

To evaluate the clinical and economic performance of these tools, PHTI said it reviewed more than 2,000 scientific articles and received input from experts and patients.

The organization divides solutions into three categories: physical therapist-led solutions (Sword, Hinge, Omada, Vori and RecoveryOne), app-based exercise therapy with limited physical therapist involvement (Dario, Kaia) and teletherapy Monitoring solutions designed to complement point-of-care (Limber).

PHTI said it found that physical therapist-guided solutions improved patients’ function and pain in a manner comparable to in-person physical therapy. This means patients using these solutions at home can achieve similar results to those receiving care in person.

App-based exercise therapies can help improve patients’ pain and function, but the tools are not effective enough to replace in-person care, the report said. Additionally, PHTI says that while there is limited evidence for teletherapy monitoring tools, they may provide better clinical outcomes when combined with face-to-face physiotherapy than face-to-face therapy alone.

Physical therapist-led solutions can also reduce net spending, the report said. PHTI said teletherapy monitoring tools increased net spending and had no pricing data for app-based exercise therapies.

PHTI said that based on its review, the virtual musculoskeletal tool “successfully provided “meaningful improvements in pain and function compared to usual care.” PHTI said virtual tools can also help increase access to care, especially for patients who are older, live in rural areas or who don’t have easy access to an in-person clinic.