By Anthony O. Goriainoff
AstraZeneca PLC said on Monday that its Lynparza drug has been recommended for approval in the European Union as first-line maintenance treatment for HRD-positive advanced ovarian cancer, and that it has also been recommended for marketing authorization by the EU for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.
The FTSE 100-listed drug maker also said that results from a prespecified exploratory analysis of the positive ADAURA phase 3 trial showed its Tagrisso drug demonstrated a clinically-meaningful improvement in central nervous system disease-free survival in patients with early-stage epidermal growth factor receptor-mutated non-small cell lung cancer after complete tumor resection. The company said Tagrisso also reduced the risk of disease recurrence in the brain by 82% in the adjuvant treatment of early-stage epidermal growth factor receptor-mutated lung cancer.
The company said that advanced ovarian cancer patients treated with Lynparza and drug bevacizumab lived without disease progression for a median of 37.2 months versus 17.7 months for bevacizumab alone.
The pharmaceutical company also said that for patients with advanced ovarian cancer, the primary aim of first-line treatment is to delay disease progression for as long as possible with the intent to achieve long-term remission.
