AstraZeneca and MedImmune, the worldwide biologics research and development branch, recently released the top-line results from their tremelimumab monotherapy trial involving mesothelioma.
The results show that the Phase IIb clinical trial, titled DETERMINE, did not improve the overall survival rates for patients. The goal was to treat patients with mesothelioma who did not have any approved treatment options from the second-line setting.
Despite these results, tremelimumab continues to be an important part of the immuno-oncology combination strategy that has proved to be efficient for several kinds of tumors.
Additionally, tremelimumab is currently being considered as a potential combination with durvalumab, an anti-PD-L1 investigational immunotherapy from AstraZeneca. Researchers want to test this combination on several kinds of tumors, such as squamous cell carcinoma of the bladder, head and neck, gastric, pancreatic and liver cancers.
“We are disappointed that tremelimumab monotherapy did not demonstrate a survival benefit in this patient population with no approved medicines beyond first-line treatment,” Robert Iannone, head of immuno-oncology, Global Medicines Development at AstraZeneca, said. “However, we remain confident in tremelimumab’s clinical activity in combination, as shown in our recently published Study 006 trial of tremelimumab and durvalumab in non-small cell lung cancer.”
