The company has presented detailed results from the Phase III CASPIAN trial, showing Imfinzi (durvalumab) significantly improved overall survival (OS) in patients with previously-untreated extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC).

Imfinzi in combination with four cycles of standard-of-care (SoC) chemotherapy (etoposide with either cisplatin or carboplatin) demonstrated a statistically-significant and clinically-meaningful improvement in OS vs. SoC consisting of up to six cycles of chemotherapy and optional prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI).

The risk of death was reduced by 27% (equal to a hazard ratio of 0.73), with median OS of 13.0 months for Imfinzi plus chemotherapy vs. 10.3 months for SoC. Results showed a prolonged OS benefit with an estimated 33.9% of patients alive at 18 months following treatment with Imfinzi plus chemotherapy vs. 24.7% of patients following SoC.

Across all efficacy endpoints, benefits were observed in patients treated with Imfinzi plus chemotherapy vs. SoC. Results showed a significantly higher progression-free survival (PFS) rate at 12 months (17.5% vs. 4.7%), a 10.3% increase in confirmed objective response rate (ORR) (67.9% vs. 57.6%), and improved duration of response (DOR) at 12 months (22.7% vs. 6.3%).

“We are encouraged to see more than a third of small cell lung cancer patients treated with Imfinzi plus chemotherapy alive at the 18-month landmark, which is remarkable given the aggressive nature of the disease. It is also noteworthy that these results may enable physicians to choose Imfinzi in combination with either cisplatin or carboplatin chemotherapy backbones. We look forward to working with regulatory authorities to bring Imfinzi to patients with small cell lung cancer around the world as soon as possible,” says José Baselga, Executive Vice President, Oncology R&D, AstraZeneca.

Photo of José Baselga: AstraZeneca