AstraZeneca Gets Crowded by Merck, Bristol on Lung Cancer
- CEO says competing products cleared `far faster' than expected
- Lung cancer drug to be submitted in first half of next year
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AstraZeneca Plc may shelve a plan for seeking accelerated approval of a key experimental cancer drug because Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and Merck & Co. moved faster to crowd the U.S. market for lung tumors.
The U.K. drugmaker had hoped a mid-stage trial of durvalumab, dubbed Atlantic, for advanced lung cancer would support a filing for the drug as a monotherapy with a form of accelerated regulatory approval. But competing products won clearance “far faster” than expected, Chief Executive Officer Pascal Soriot told reporters on a conference call on Thursday.