Look back at pharma news in week to June 1

Even ahead of the much anticipated ASCO meeting that kicked off on Friday in Chicago, there was positive new data on AstraZeneca’s Imfinzi in lung cancer, which appears to reinforce the company’s hold on a particular segment of the lung cancer market. Also on the drug trials front, a new study demonstrated that Novo Nordisk’s diabetes drug oral semaglutide appeared to be better than Boehringer Ingelheim’s Jardiance in a comparative trial. On the regulatory front, Clovis Oncology finally received approval from the European regulator for its Rubraca in ovarian cancer, while Loxo Oncology gained US Food and Drug Administration priority review for its larotrectinib, which is now partnered with German pharma major Bayer, for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients with locally advanced or metastatic solid tumors harboring an NTRKgene fusion.

Late-stage success for AstraZeneca’s Imfinzi

Last week Anglo-Swedish pharma major AstraZeneca announced that it had succeeded in a late-stage study by hitting the second primary endpoint of the PACIFIC trial. This latest trial shows that those treated with Imfinzi in the stage 3 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) setting lived longer. This is a major win as it solidifies Imfinzi in this setting, according to Terry Chrisomalis writing on the Seeking Alpha blog.