(Reuters) – AstraZeneca said its blockbuster cancer drug Imfinzi combined with chemotherapy has been approved by the U.S. as treatment for adult patients with primary, advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer that is mismatch repair deficient (dMMR).
The approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration came after a late stage trial showed that Imfinzi along with chemotherapy drugs carboplatin and paclitaxel, then followed by Imfinzi by itself, reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 58% in specific endometrial cancer patients, compared to chemotherapy alone, the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker said on Monday.
“Immunotherapy in combination with chemotherapy is emerging as a new standard of care in this setting, and the approval of Imfinzi offers an important new option for patients with mismatch repair deficient disease,” Dave Fredrickson, executive vice-president of the company’s oncology business unit, said in a statement.
Endometrial cancer ranks as the fourth most prevalent cancer among women in the U.S. In 2022, it affected more than 66,000 patients and was responsible for nearly 12,000 fatalities.
(Reporting by Radhika Anilkumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
