Amgen Drug Combo Cuts Lung Cancer Death Risk by 58%

Adding Amgen's Imdelltra to AstraZeneca's Imfinzi cut the risk of death by 58% in patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer, according to full results of a late-stage trial released on Saturday.

Median overall survival reached 21.1 months with the combination, against 12.7 months for Imfinzi alone. Amgen said nearly 80% of the patients on both drugs were alive after one year, compared with 53% of those who stayed on Imfinzi.

The trial tested the pair as maintenance therapy. Participants had first been treated with Imfinzi and chemotherapy, and their cancer had not progressed. Imfinzi is already approved as a first treatment for this type of lung cancer.

What the investigators said

Dr. Jacob Sands of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the lead investigator, said the benefit appeared across subgroups, including patients whose cancer had spread to the brain or liver. He said the 21-month figure "may evolve further and hopefully will substantially improve" with longer follow-up. A smaller Phase 1 trial of the combination showed a benefit that lasted for years.

Sands said chemotherapy often works at first but the disease usually returns or progresses within months. Immunotherapy has given a small group of patients years of control, he said, while most have not had durable benefit. About 31,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with small cell lung cancer each year, and an estimated 60% to 70% of them have the extensive stage.

Amgen's chief medical officer, Dr. Paul Burton, spoke to CNBC. "There are moments in medicine when you see a piece of data that is so profound that it's going to transform the standard of care for patients, and I think, honestly, we're at that moment," he said. He added that the combination could "almost convert it into a chronic disease." He also called Imdelltra a potential "indispensable backbone therapy" whichever other immunotherapy it is paired with.

Sales and approval

Imdelltra brought in $288 million in the second quarter, up 115% from a year earlier, and $627 million worldwide in 2025. The new data point to a larger market for the drug, which looks on track to reach $1 billion in annual sales. It is currently approved for patients whose small cell lung cancer progressed during or after platinum-based chemotherapy. Amgen said the results suggest earlier use could change the course of the disease.

Imdelltra attaches to DLL3, a protein on cancer cells, and to CD3 on T cells, pulling the immune cells next to the tumor. Imfinzi blocks PD-L1, a protein cancer cells use to avoid the immune system.

Source: CNBC