However, if you think that 20 17 is a year of "changing the rules of the game" in immunooncology, wait. Tim Anderson, an analyst at Bernstein, a world-renowned investment bank, recently wrote that 20 18 is a crucial year for "market definition" of tumor immunotherapy. Only in the first half of 20 18, the four giants, including Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), Roche and AstraZeneca, will release the key phase III clinical research data of lung cancer. Compared with other cancer indications, lung cancer is a truly extremely profitable treatment market. The following are the key phase III clinical studies of lung cancer that will be announced by major giants this year.
AstraZeneca 1
Last summer, AstraZeneca released the first batch of data of MYSTIC (clinical trial ID: NCT02453282), which is the key phase III of its PD- 1/PD-L 1 immune checkpoint inhibitor Imfinzi(duravulumab) combined with CTLA4 immunotherapy tremelimumab in the first-line treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In this study, compared with platinum-containing standard nursing chemotherapy or Imfinzi monotherapy, Imfinzi tremelimumab immune combination did not delay the progress of lung cancer. However, AstraZeneca insists that not extending the progression-free survival (PFS) does not mean that the combination fails, especially in extending the overall survival (OS) of patients, which is the key data that the industry is still waiting for. If AstraZeneca successfully improves OS, the combination will compete with Merck's Keytruda chemotherapy combination in the field of first-line lung cancer treatment. If it is not successful, it does not bode well for BMS. BMS is currently evaluating the potential of PD- 1 immunotherapy combined with CTLA4 immunotherapy in the first-line treatment of lung cancer.