AstraZeneca’s Tagrisso has been approved in China for the adjuvant treatment of patients with early-stage (IB, II and IIIA) epidermal growth factor receptor-mutated (EGFRm) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after tumour resection with curative intent, with or without adjuvant chemotherapy as recommended by the patient’s physician.
The approval by China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) was based on positive results from the ADAURA Phase III trial where Tagrisso demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in disease-free survival (DFS) in the primary analysis population of patients with Stage II and IIIA EGFRm NSCLC, AstraZeneca said.
Also, the ADAURA trial showed a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in DFS in the overall trial population of patients with Stage IB-IIIA disease, a key secondary endpoint, the company added.
While up to 30% of all patients with NSCLC may be diagnosed early enough to have surgery with curative intent, recurrence is still common in early-stage disease. Historically, nearly half of patients diagnosed in Stage IB, and over three quarters of patients diagnosed in Stage IIIA, have experienced recurrence within five years, said the company.
More than a third of the world’s lung cancer patients are in China and among those with NSCLC, approximately 40% have tumours with an EGFR mutation.
