AZ’s lung cancer drug disappoints

Datopotamab deruxtecan (Dato-DXd) is a specifically engineered TROP2-directed DXd antibody drug conjugate discovered by Daiichi Sankyo and being jointly developed by AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo. The phase III trial TROPION-Lung01 set out to evaluate the efficacy and safety of datopotamab deruxtecan versus docetaxel, the current standard chemotherapy in adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer who require systemic therapy following prior treatment. While the overall survival data numerically favoured Dato-DXd over chemotherapy in the general study population, the improvement was not statistically significant. Only the subgroup of patients with non-squamous NSCLC experienced a clinically meaningful improvement in overall survival. The results were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

AZ is now shifting its focus to this subgroup. “TROPION-Lung01 showed a clinically meaningful trend towards improving the survival of patients with advanced or metastatic nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer, building on the previously reported progression-free survival data”, Susan Galbraith, AZ’s Executive Vice President, Oncology R&D, said. “Together with the data we have presented for the potential TROP2-QCS biomarker and from NeoCOAST-2 in early-stage disease, these results underscore our confidence in the important role datopotamab deruxtecan can play across segments and settings of non-small cell lung cancer.”