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FDA approval for AstraZeneca’s Calquence

AstraZeneca and its haematology research and development centre of excellence, Acerta Pharma, has announced that the FDA has granted accelerated approval to Calquence (acalabrutinib).
Calquence is a kinase inhibitor indicated for the treatment of adult patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) who have received at least one prior therapy. Calquence is approved under the FDA’s accelerated approval pathway, based on overall response rate, which allows for earlier approval of medicines that treat serious conditions and that fill an unmet medical need based on a surrogate endpoint. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in confirmatory trials.
“The accelerated approval of Calquence is a landmark moment for our company. It provides an exciting new treatment option for patients with mantle cell lymphoma and marks the first approval of a medicine that will be the cornerstone of our presence in haematology. Furthermore, today’s approval demonstrates our commitment to scientific leadership in Oncology and reinforces our progress towards returning to growth,” said Pascal Soriot, Chief Executive Officer of AstraZeneca.
“The acalabrutinib approval represents an important development for patients currently battling mantle cell lymphoma, an aggressive type of blood cancer that is typically diagnosed at an advanced stage and associated with a high relapse rate. In addition to the overall response rate, the high complete response rate of 40% seen in this trial illustrates the potential of acalabrutinib to help patients achieve a deep response,” said Michael L. Wang, MD, Professor, Department of Lymphoma/Myeloma, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Principal Investigator of the ACE-LY-004 MCL clinical trial.
Full results from the ACE-LY-004 clinical trial have been submitted for presentation at a forthcoming medical meeting. This will be the first MCL trial data to be presented from the Calquence development programme, which includes both monotherapy and combination therapies in a broad range of blood cancers and solid tumours. Calquence is also being evaluated in combination with bendamustine and rituximab as a potential 1st-line treatment for patients with MCL in the Phase III ACE-LY-308 clinical trial.4
Published: November 1, 2017