Amgen Inc's (AMGN.O) Lumakras pill reduced the risk of disease progression in patients with advanced lung cancer by 34% compared with chemotherapy in a clinical trial, the company said on Sunday.
There was no significant difference in overall survival between the two treatments in the confirmatory study required by U.S. regulators as a condition of accelerated approval for Lumakras. But Amgen said the trial was not designed to detect a survival difference.
The company is also testing whether the drug could be effective against lung cancer earlier in the disease, and said last month a small study of Lumakras combined with immunotherapy found high rates of liver toxicity and that further study was needed.
More detailed results from the 345-patient study, including median progression-free survival - the length of time until the cancer begins to worsen - will be presented on Monday at the annual meeting of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) in Paris.
(Source: Reuters)