Astra gets share lift on cancer drug trials

SHARES in AstraZeneca leapt after it revealed its ground-breaking cancer drug had been shown to reduce the risk of death in patients with advanced lung cancer.

The FTSE pharmaceutical firm soared 9pc or 428.5p to 5176p when it announced success in testing of its immunotherapy drug Imfinzi, saying it had halted cancer progression in stage 3 patients taking part in the study.

Imfinzi works by helping the body’s immune cells kill cancer – offering an alternative to chemotherapies. The drug targets PDL1s, a type of protein that stops the immune system from fighting cancer, by blocking them, allowing the body’s immune system to work its magic.

The new class of medicines are tipped to be the next big wave in drug development and a number of pharmaceutical heavyweights have been investing in the sector.

AstraZeneca has already been given the green light to bring the drug to the US for patients suffering from bladder cancer, but its biggest commercial opportunity lies in the lung cancer market.

This is because it’s currently trialling the benefits of using Imfinzi with Tremelimumab, another immuno-cology compound that, if approved, would be the first of its kind to offer a combination treatment for lung cancer.

The firm already brought out its ground-breaking lung cancer drug Tagrisso earlier this year.

The two treatments would make AstraZeneca the market leader in lung cancer drugs, as it would be able to treat patients with different forms of the disease.

The success of Imfinzi is a much needed win for AstraZeneca boss Pascal Soriot, who suffered a shareholder revolt over his pay last month.

Two-fifths of investors opposed his £13m pay package at the firm’s annual meeting in London, amid falling sales following the loss of its patent for cholesterol medicine Crestor.

But Soriot has been adamant the firm can return to growth.