AstraZeneca Takes on Protecting the Throne of 'Lung Cancer Treatment'

Global pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca (AZ) is putting great effort into maintaining its throne in lung cancer treatment. While solidifying the position of Tagrisso, the global standard treatment, it is also aiming to expand its lung cancer drug portfolio with the latest trend of antibody-drug conjugates (ADC).

AstraZeneca's non-small cell lung cancer treatment 'Tagrisso (active ingredient Osimertinib)'
[Photo by Korea AstraZeneca]

On the 19th (local time), UK-based multinational pharmaceutical company AZ announced three lung cancer-related updates in one day: ▲FDA approval of Tagrisso combined with chemotherapy as a first-line treatment ▲completion of Phase 3 clinical trial of Tagrisso for stage 3 lung cancer patients ▲FDA submission for approval of the ADC new drug Datopotamab Deruxtecan (Dato-Dxd).

Cancer cells mutate in various ways to evade the patient's immune system attacks. EGFR mutation is representative in lung cancer. Up to 15% of Western lung cancer patients and about 40% of Asian patients show EGFR mutations. Tagrisso is a targeted anticancer drug that specifically seeks and kills EGFR-mutated cancer cells. It is a blockbuster drug with global sales of $5.444 billion (approximately 7.2732 trillion KRW) in 2022.

However, in December last year, Yuhan Corporation’s Rybrevant challenged Tagrisso by applying for FDA and European Medicines Agency (EMA) approval for combination therapy with Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) anticancer drug. In response, AZ prepared a defense by introducing a new treatment combining Tagrisso with traditional chemotherapy.

This treatment, named FLAURA2, extended patient survival compared to Tagrisso monotherapy while reducing lung cancer progression and patient death risk by nearly 40%. AZ applied for FDA approval of this treatment in September last year and received approval as a first-line treatment on the 19th.

Tagrisso and Rybrevant are also fiercely competing in Korea. Both drugs have been covered by health insurance for first-line treatment of EGFR mutation patients since this year. Last month, Tagrisso was prescribed for 9.1 billion KRW, and Rybrevant for 3 billion KRW. While Tagrisso, which recorded 90.4 billion KRW in prescriptions last year, holds the advantage, Rybrevant is also expected to achieve sales of 100 billion KRW this year, intensifying the competition.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

Meanwhile, AZ announced the completion of Phase 3 clinical trials for inoperable stage 3 lung cancer patients on the same day, stating that it "significantly improved patient survival." Along with this, AZ announced that it had received FDA approval for the submission of the ADC mechanism lung cancer new drug Dato-Dxd. This new drug was developed in collaboration with Japanese pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo. It targets and attacks a protein called Trop2, which is excessively expressed on the surface of cancer cells. The FDA is expected to decide on approval by December. AZ expects that if this drug is approved, it will further increase its market share in lung cancer treatments starting next year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.