Amgen Says Its Drug Reduces Risk Of Death By 40% In Small Cell Lung Cancer: Retail’s Yet To Be Convinced

Shares of Amgen (AMGN) were in the spotlight on Monday morning after the company announced that its immunotherapy Imdelltra reduced the risk of death by 40% in a late-stage trial in patients with small cell lung cancer whose cancer continues to grow or spread despite treatment with a platinum-based chemotherapy regimen.

The company also stated that the interim data from the trial showed that the therapy significantly extended median overall survival (OS) by more than five months compared to standard-of-care chemotherapy, to 13.6 months.

Progression-free survival, or duration of time when a patient's disease does not worsen or progress, was 4.2 months in patients who received Imdelltra and 3.7 months for patients who received chemotherapy.

According to the interim data from the trial, Imdelltra also significantly improved patient-reported outcomes for cancer-related symptoms of dyspnea and cough compared to chemotherapy.

A total of 509 patients were randomized to receive either Imdelltra or local chemotherapy in the global study. Small cell lung cancer comprises about 15% of the more than 2.4 million patients diagnosed with lung cancer worldwide each year.

Despite initial high response rates to first-line platinum-based chemotherapy, most patients quickly relapse within months and require subsequent treatment options, Amgen said.

Imdelltra was approved for extensive-stage small cell lung cancer with disease progression on or after platinum-based chemotherapy by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last year. However, continued approval is dependent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in a confirmatory trial.

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around Amgen stayed unmoved within the ‘neutral’ territory over the past 24 hours while message volume remained at ‘normal’ levels.

AMGN stock is up by over 11% this year but down by over 6% over the past 12 months.

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