AstraZeneca-Merck Partnered Lynparza Shows Long-Term Survival With Reduced Death Risk Of 28% In Breast Cancer Patients

AstraZeneca Plc AZN and Merck & Co Inc MRK, on Wednesday, announced long-term results from the OlympiA Phase 3 trial.

The trial showed Lynparza (olaparib) demonstrated sustained, clinically meaningful improvements in overall survival (OS), invasive disease-free survival (IDFS), and distant disease-free survival (DDFS) for people with germline BRCA-mutated (gBRCAm) HER2-negative high-risk early breast cancer.

Also Read: After Lung Cancer Approval, AstraZeneca’s Imfinzi Goes Under FDA Priority Review For Bladder Cancer

At a median follow-up of 6.1 years (maximum 9.6 years) in eligible patients, who had completed local treatment and standard neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy, Lynparza reduced the risk of death by 28% versus placebo.

In addition, 87.5% of patients treated with Lynparza remained alive versus 83.2% of those on placebo.

Lynparza also demonstrated sustained and clinically meaningful improvements in the primary and secondary endpoints of IDFS and DDFS.

Lynparza reduced the risk of invasive breast cancer recurrence, second cancers, or death by 35% and reduced the risk of distant disease recurrence or death by 35% versus placebo.

The benefit with Lynparza was consistent across all key subgroups, including patients with high-risk, hormone-receptor-positive disease.

Recently, Merck announced topline data from the Phase 3 KEYLYNK-001 trial of Keytruda (pembrolizumab) plus chemotherapy followed by maintenance with Lynparza, with or without bevacizumab, as a first-line treatment for BRCA non-mutated advanced epithelial ovarian cancer met its primary endpoint of progression-free survival.

The Keytruda plus Lynparza regimen demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in progression-free survival for these patients compared to chemotherapy alone.

The study did not reach its secondary endpoint of overall survival. The role of keytruda in the intention-to-treat population remains uncertain at this time.

Price Action: MRK stock is up 0.11% at $101.11, and AZN stock is up 0.47% at $67.50 at last check Wednesday.

Read Next:

• Eli Lilly’s Investigational Cancer Drug Cuts Risk Of Death By 38% In Breast Cancer Patients

Photo via Shutterstock