Lung cancer drug trial fails to meet goal

AstraZeneca PLC’s Mystic experiment that combined two of its drugs in lung cancer treatment failed to meet its main goal, ending an effort that would have brought one of the company’s key drugs to a wider market.

The cocktail of Imfinzi and tremelimumab didn’t improve patients’ overall survival in non-small-cell lung cancer compared with standard chemotherapy alone, the company said Friday in a statement. The results didn’t meet statistical significance, and the data support further analysis, Astra said.

Imfinzi is one of a number of new drugs, along with Lynparza for cancer and Farxiga for diabetes, Astra is looking to for growth in the coming years as it pares away fading blockbusters. The company had hoped combining Imfinzi with tremelimumab would help previously untreated patients with lung cancer and would be added to standard chemotherapy. — Bloomberg News