Imfinzi Demonstrates Unprecedented Survival in Lung Cancer

The PACIFIC Phase III trial showed AstraZeneca’s Imfinzi (durvalumab) demonstrated a sustained, clinically meaningful overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) benefit at five years in patients with unresectable, Stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who had not progressed following concurrent chemoradiation therapy (CRT).

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death accounting for about one-fifth of all cancer deaths, and 80-85% of patients with lung cancer have NSCLC. One-fourth of patients with NSCLC are diagnosed at Stage III, where the majority of tumors are unresectable (cannot be removed with surgery). The approval of Imfinzi in this setting based on the results of this trial was the first new treatment to be available to these patients in decades.

Results from the updated post-hoc analyses showed an estimated five-year OS rate of 42.9% for patients treated with Imfinzi versus 33.4% for those on placebo after CRT. Median OS was 47.5 months for Imfinzi versus 29.1 for placebo. Following a maximum treatment course of one year, an estimated 33.1% of patients treated with Imfinzi had not progressed five years after enrolment versus 19% for placebo.

Dave Fredrickson, Executive Vice President, Oncology Business Unit, said: “Five-year survival is a clinically significant and emotionally meaningful milestone for people with cancer and their families, and it's incredible to see the majority of patients surviving that long have not progressed four years after completing treatment.”