AstraZeneca Fails Lung Cancer Drug Trial, Dragging Its Shares to 5%

By Thea Felicity

Sep 10 2024, 10:04 AM EDT

Signboards of Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca are pictured in Macclesfield in northwest England, on November 20, 2008. Anglo-Swedish pharmaceuticals giant AstraZeneca said Thursday it will slash 1,400 jobs by 2013 as it shuts factories in Belgium, Spain and Sweden. AFP PHOTO/ANDREW YATES ANDREW YATES/AFP via Getty Images

On September 10, Tuesday, shares of AstraZeneca took a nose dive, after suffering a decline of more than 5%.

CNBC pointed out that the poor performance in the trial was the only cause for such a huge drop as it did not bring the expected improvement in survival rates for patients when tested against existing treatments in the study.

To be clear, the drug was tested against standard chemotherapy, docetaxel, which was used in treating patients with non-small cell lung cancer who had relapsed after previous treatments.

AstraZeneca Lung Cancer Drug Trials Results

The said trial was the TROPION-Lung01 Phase III study. According to a report by Reuters on Monday, it came out that the new drug failed to improve the overall survival of patients against pre-existent treatments.

AstraZeneca tested the datopotamab deruxtecan against the chemotherapy drug docetaxel in patients with NSCLC whose disease had recurred after one or two previous treatments.

The data indicated that the new drug failed to reach statistical significance in improving patient survival and brought down investor expectations.

Lung Cancer Drug Trial's Impact on AstraZeneca

The datopotamab deruxtecan's poor results brought not only AstraZeneca's share price down. It also exerted a negative impact on the company's future.

Another Reuters report stated that the Covid-19 vaccine manufacturer, compared to Pfizer and Moderna, is at the bottom of the FTSE 100 index before. This current negative market reaction is inciting fears about the future success of AstraZeneca's upcoming drug pipeline.

However, AstraZeneca's Executive Vice President of Oncology R&D, Susan Galbraith said that the results showed some "clinically meaningful" results toward improved survival rates in patients with stage III non-small cell lung cancer.

The drug, developed in cooperation with Daiichi Sankyo from Japan, was awaiting FDA approval, expected next December. With the trial results mixed, confidence in the eventual approval of the drug has become highly uncertain.