As­traZeneca inks $8.4B pact with Mer­ck as cru­cial MYS­TIC study fails and shares plunge

As­traZeneca’s cru­cial com­bi­na­tion tri­al of dur­val­um­ab (Imfinzi) and treme­li­mum­ab has failed the pri­ma­ry end­point on pro­gres­sion-free sur­vival as a first-line ther­a­py for non-small cell lung can­cer. The shock waves from that news im­me­di­ate­ly ripped through its share price, eras­ing bil­lions in mar­ket val­ue and spurring some fevered spec­u­la­tion about the phar­ma gi­ant’s fu­ture. And with­in hours an­a­lysts start­ed to raise the prospect that the fall­out just might be bad enough to in­spire a new megamerg­er takeover at­tempt.

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