AstraZeneca said Tagrisso had extended progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) of non-small cell lung cancer patients in phase 3 clinical trials conducted in China, consistently with the FLAURA study.

AstraZeneca’s non-small cell lung cancer treatment Tagrisso extended disease-free survival in the phase 3 study conducted in China. (AZ)
AstraZeneca’s non-small cell lung cancer treatment Tagrisso extended disease-free survival in the phase 3 study conducted in China. (AZ)

In the study, the median PFS of patients treated with Tagrisso was 17.8 months, eight months longer than those who received the first-generation epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI). The drug also lowered the risk of death by 44 percent.

The median OS of the Tagrisso group was 33.1 months, up 7.4 months from the standard treatment cohort. It also decreased the death risk by 15 percent.

Patients who received Tagrisso maintained with longer treatment period.

The duration of treatment was also longer in patients who received Tagrisso. At the time of data cut-off, on June 25, 2019, the median duration of treatment in the Tagrisso group was 20 months, 6.4 months longer than 13.6 months in the standard treatment group, according to a news release on Monday.

In the second and third year of treatment, the survival rates were 64.3 and 38.6 percent, respectively, higher than 54.2 and 32.6 percent of the standard treatment group.

The FLAURA China study is a clinical trial designed equally to existing FLAURA trials that also showed patients' extended survival.

"Tagrisso showed clinically significant improvement in progression-free and overall survival, consistent with the clinical results of FLAURA," said Myeong Jin, managing director of the oncology business unit at AstraZeneca.

Professor Kim Sang-we of the Department of Oncology at Asan Medical Center said, "It is encouraging to see 20 percent of non-small cell lung cancer patients continue their primary treatment with Tagrisso by the third year of treatment."

Tagrisso is the only EGFR TKI that has extended survival for more than three years in patients with non-small cell lung cancer, Kim added.

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