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AstraZeneca’s Imfinzi plus chemotherapy granted Priority Review

AstraZeneca’s supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for Imfinzi, in combination with standard-of-care chemotherapy, has been accepted and granted Priority Review in the US for patients with locally advanced or metastatic biliary tract cancer (BTC).
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) grants Priority Review to applications for medicines that, if approved, would offer significant improvements over available options by demonstrating safety or efficacy improvements, preventing serious conditions, or enhancing patient compliance. The Prescription Drug User Fee Act date, the FDA action date for their regulatory decision, is during the third quarter of 2022.
“People with advanced biliary tract cancer have faced poor outcomes and limited treatment options for too long, and today’s news for the TOPAZ-1 trial underscores the urgency to deliver new, effective therapies in this setting. We are working closely with the FDA to bring the first immunotherapy-based option to patients with this devastating cancer and potentially set a new standard of care with Imfinzi plus chemotherapy,” says Susan Galbraith, Executive Vice President, Oncology R&D, AstraZeneca.
The TOPAZ-1 Phase III trial
The sBLA was based on results from an interim analysis of the TOPAZ-1 Phase III trial presented during the 2022 American Society of Clinical Oncology Gastrointestinal Cancers (ASCO GI) Symposium. The data showed Imfinzi plus chemotherapy (gemcitabine plus cisplatin) reduced the risk of death by 20% versus chemotherapy alone (based on a hazard ratio [HR] of 0.80; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.66-0.97; 2-sided p=0.021). An estimated one in four (25%) patients treated with Imfinzi plus chemotherapy were alive at two years compared to one in 10 (10%) treated with chemotherapy alone.
Results also showed a statistically significant 25% reduction in the risk of disease progression or death with Imfinziplus chemotherapy (HR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.64-0.89; 2-sided p=0.001). The Imfinzi combination was generally well tolerated and did not increase the discontinuation rate due to adverse events compared to chemotherapy alone.
In December 2020, Imfinzi was granted Orphan Drug Designation in the US for the treatment of BTC.
Photo of Susan Galbraith: AstraZeneca
Published: May 6, 2022