AstraZeneca’s Imfinzi (durvalumab) has been approved in the European Union and the UK for an additional dosing option, a 1,500mg fixed dose every four weeks, in locally advanced, unresectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in adults whose tumours express PD-L1 on at least 1% of tumour cells and whose disease has not progressed following platinum-based chemoradiation therapy (CRT).

This new dosing option is consistent with the approved Imfinzi dosing in extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC) and is available to patients with locally advanced, unresectable NSCLC weighing more than 30kg.

Several clinical trials

The approval by the European Commission was based on data from several Imfinzi clinical trials. These include the PACIFIC Phase III trial which supported the two-week, weight-based dosing of 10mg/kg already approved in locally advanced, unresectable NSCLC, and the CASPIAN Phase III trial which used four-week, fixed dosing during maintenance treatment in ES-SCLC.

The approval follows an accelerated assessment by the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency, which recommended approval in December 2020. This CHMP recommendation and approval also apply to the UK.

“We are pleased to offer a four-week dosing option to lung cancer patients in Europe to meet an urgent need and help enable continuity of care during the pandemic. Cancer won’t wait, and it is our job to provide patients with treatment options that address the challenges the pandemic poses to their care,” says Dave Fredrickson, Executive Vice President, Oncology Business Unit, AstraZeneca.

Imfinzi was also recently approved for unresectable Stage III NSCLC after CRT in the USfor the four-week, fixed-dose regimen. Imfinzi is approved in the curative-intent setting of unresectable, Stage III (locally advanced) NSCLC after CRT in the EU, US, Japan, China and many other countries, based on the PACIFIC Phase III trial. Additionally, it is approved in the EU, US, Japan and many other countries around the world for the treatment of ES-SCLC based on the CASPIAN Phase III trial.

Photo: AstraZeneca scientist