Despite MYSTIC doubts, Imfinzi makes light work of PACIFIC

While it might not have delivered yet in untreated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the PD-L1 immunotherapy Imfinzi (durvalumab) is proving itself an effective treatment for patients with the disease further down the line.

The drug’s developer, Anglo-Swedish pharma major AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN), has presented results showing that it met the second primary endpoint of improved overall survival (OS) in the Phase III PACIFIC study in unresectable Stage III, or locally-advanced, NSCLC patients whose disease had not progressed following platinum-based chemotherapy concurrent with radiation therapy (CRT).

A planned interim analysis concluded that the trial has met this endpoint by showing statistically-significant OS benefit with clinically-meaningful improvement in patients receiving Imfinzi compared to placebo.