Positive Ph III data on sugemalimab OS in lung cancer

USA-based EQRx (Nasdaq: EQRX), which launched in January 2020 with the aim of creating patent-protected medicines at dramatically lower prices, along with its China-based partner CStone Pharmaceuticals (HKEX: 2616), yesterday announced that sugemalimab plus chemotherapy demonstrated a statistically-significant improvement in overall survival (OS) compared to placebo plus chemotherapy as a first-line treatment for patients with Stage IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the randomized, double-blind Phase III GEMSTONE-302 study.

These data were reported after a planned interim analysis for OS, a key secondary endpoint of the study. These results build on previously presented positive data from the GEMSTONE-302 study, which met the primary endpoint of progression-free survival (PFS) and were recently published in The Lancet Oncology.

Clinical benefit was observed across subgroups, including patients with squamous and non-squamous subtypes, and regardless of PD-L1 expression levels. As previously reported, the safety profile of sugemalimab was consistent with that of the PD-1/PD-L1 class.1