Tremelimumab fails in Phase IIb trial for unresectable malignant mesothelioma- AstraZeneca

AstraZeneca and MedImmune, its global biologics research and development arm, announced that DETERMINE, the Phase IIb clinical trial of 10 mg/kg tremelimumab monotherapy in second or third-line treatment of unresectable malignant mesothelioma, did not meet its primary endpoint of overall survival.

In addition to investigation as monotherapy for patients with mesothelioma, tremelimumab is being studied in combination with AstraZeneca's anti-PD-L1 investigational immunotherapy durvalumab in multiple tumour types, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, bladder, pancreatic, gastric and liver cancers. Preclinical data have suggested that targeting both PD-L1 and CTLA-4 may have additive or synergistic effects. In the recently published Study 006, combination treatment with durvalumab and tremelimumab demonstrated antitumour activity in patients with locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC, irrespective of PD-L1 status. The company will complete a full evaluation of the final DETERMINE data, which will be submitted for presentation at an upcoming medical meeting in 2016.