Success of anti-cancer drug trials cheer Astra

ASTRAZENECA was given a boost yesterday as it revealed the success of new anti-cancer drug trials.

The pharma giant’s shares jumped as much as 2pc in early trading after it presented positive results following research on its AZD9291 cancer treatment.

The drug works by halting a tumour’s ability to evade the body’s defences and blocks a molecule that stops the immune system from attacking cancers.

The British firm produced data that revealed 81pc of lung cancer patients on a daily dose of the drug found their illness had not progressed after nine months. The news came after US pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb produced evidence that showed its therapy could more than double life expectancy for lung cancer patients.

The results were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting in Chicago over the weekend.

AZ’s boss Pascal Soriot last year laid out plans to grow revenues to £30bn by 2023.

At the close yesterday, AZ shares were down 0.14pc, or 6p, at 4366.5p