Results presented at AACR 2023 found that four times as many patients treated with Imfinzi plus chemotherapy before surgery achieved pathologic complete response versus those treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy alone

The combination of Imfinzi and neoadjuvant chemotherapy also demonstrated a statistically significant and meaningful improvement in pathologic complete response (pCR), a dual primary endpoint, compared to neoadjuvant chemotherapy alone, at a previously reported interim analysis. The final analysis was consistent with these previously announced positive results. Results will be presented today in a plenary session at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida (abstract #CT005).

In a planned interim analysis of EFS, patients treated with the Imfinzi-based regimen before and after surgery showed a 32% reduction in the risk of recurrence, progression events or death versus chemotherapy alone (32% data maturity, EFS hazard ratio [HR] of 0.68, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.53-0.88; p=0.003902). In a final analysis of pCR, treatment with Imfinzi plus neoadjuvant chemotherapy before surgery resulted in a pCR rate of 17.2% versus 4.3% for patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy alone (difference in pCR 13.0%; 95% CI 8.7-17.6). The trial will continue as planned to assess key secondary endpoints including disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS).

John V. Heymach, MD, PhD, Professor and Chair Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, said: “Too many patients with resectable non-small cell lung cancer experience disease recurrence and poor clinical outcomes today. Adding durvalumab both before and after surgery has the potential to become a backbone combination approach that may alter the course of a patient’s cancer, significantly increasing the potential for cure.”

Imfinzi was generally well tolerated and no new safety signals were observed in the neoadjuvant and adjuvant settings. Further, adding Imfinzi to neoadjuvant chemotherapy was consistent with the known profile for this combination and did not compromise patients' ability to complete surgery versus chemotherapy alone. Of patients treated with the Imfinzi-based regimen, 77.6% completed surgery compared to 76.7% of patients treated with chemotherapy alone. Grade 3/4 any-cause adverse events occurred in 42.3% of patients treated with the Imfinzi-based regimen versus 43.4% for chemotherapy alone.