APPROVALS

Patients treated with Imjudo, in combination with Imfinzi, saw a 22% reduction in the risk of death when compared with those treated with sorafenib, a commonly used oncology drug. The trial showed that 31% of patients treated with the Imjudo-Imfinzi combination were alive after three years, whereas only 20% of those treated with sorafenib were still alive after the same period of time.

The combination Imjudo-Imfinzi treatment includes taking one 300 milligram dose of Imjudo, an anti-CTLA-4 antibody, along with a 1,500 milligram dose of Imfinzi, an anti-PD-L1 antibody, then a dose of Imfinzi every four weeks. Both CTLA-4 and PD-L1 are proteins that slow the body’s immune response, binding to certain other proteins and stopping T cells from killing other cells, such as cancer cells. By stopping CTLA-4 and PD-L1 from binding to these other proteins, the T cells are more able to kill the cancer cells.

Dave Frederickson, Executive Vice President of the Oncology Business Unit, commented: “With this first regulatory approval for Imjudo, patients with unresectable liver cancer in the US now have an approved dual immunotherapy treatment regimen that harnesses the potential of CTLA-4 inhibition in a unique combination with a PD-L1 inhibitor to enhance the immune response against their cancer.”