AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo's Cancer Drug Trial Results Mixed

AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo's datopotamab deruxtecan showed no significant survival advantage over docetaxel in lung cancer patients. Insights on ongoing trials signal potential but lack conclusive outcomes, affecting investor outlook on both companies.

Date: 10-09-2024

AI Rating: 5

AstraZeneca (AZN) and Daiichi Sankyo (DSKYF) recently reported mixed results from their Phase III clinical trial, TROPION-Lung01, involving datopotamab deruxtecan for treating adult patients with advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Overall survival did not present a significant improvement compared to docetaxel, the current standard treatment.

The trial found that the overall survival for the treatment with datopotamab deruxtecan was 12.9 months compared to 11.8 months for docetaxel. Although this shows some numerical advantage, it was not statistically significant, which casts doubt on the drug's efficacy in a competitive market focused on improving patient outcomes.

Furthermore, the prespecified subgroup analysis indicated a 2.3-month improvement in overall survival for patients with nonsquamous NSCLC (14.6 versus 12.3 months). This result, while more favorable, again did not achieve statistical significance, which may limit investor confidence in the drug's market potential.

In contrast, AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo also highlighted preliminary results from the NeoCOAST-2 Phase II platform trial, where the combination of Imfinzi (durvalumab), datopotamab deruxtecan, and carboplatin yielded a pathological complete response rate of 34.1% and a major pathological response rate of 65.9%. Although these preliminary results seem promising, the trial was not structured to draw definitive statistical comparisons.

The consistency of safety profiles for the combination treatments indicates that they may be viable options for further development. However, the absence of definitive improvements in survival metrics could impact AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo in terms of future investment and stock performance, as the pharmaceutical industry heavily weighs clinical trial success in evaluations.

Stocks: AZN DSKYF