Astrazeneca upbeat on latest oncology developments

15th May 2014 07:56

AstraZeneca has said its cancer pipeline 'has the potential to redefine the way that cancer patients are treated' as it provided updates on several drug candidates ahead of an industry conference.The FTSE 100 company issued a statement ahead of the 50th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology at which its biologics research and development arm MedImmune will be featured. The drugs giant, which is currently the subject of a controversial bid takeover proposal by US big-player Pfizer, pointed out that its strengths lie across three core areas of research, namely immuno-oncology, genetic drivers and DNA damage repair. Within immuno-oncology, one of its leading late-stage assets is MEDI4736, which in its first phase trial has so far shown "encouraging clinical activity" and "acceptable safety" across a range of tumour types."Immuno-oncology is developing at a rapid pace and redefining the cancer treatment landscape. We are committed to realising the full potential of this promising therapeutic approach," said Bahija Jallal, the Executive Vice President of MedImmune. "We believe that combinations of immunotherapies, both with each other and with highly targeted small molecules, will be the key to achieving the greatest patient benefit. With the AstraZeneca and MedImmune combined portfolio, we are uniquely positioned to explore this possibility and have already initiated multiple combination studies with MEDI4736."NR