AstraZeneca’s shares spike on a surprise coup in PhIII lung cancer data
AstraZeneca $AZN shares popped more than 7% this morning on positive Phase III progression-free survival data for Imfinzi (durvalumab) in treating advanced, inoperable and chemo-resistant non-small cell lung cancer.
Analysts did a quick double take and immediately cheered it as a remarkable – and completely unexpected – hit.
That’s the right target for AstraZeneca, which recently won its first approval for the world’s fifth checkpoint inhibitor. On Wednesday Merck moved to the front of that field with an approval to use a combination of Keytruda with chemo as a first-line therapy on NSCLC, putting it on top of the heap of rivals looking to carve out a big piece of the blockbuster market.
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