Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca plc (STO:AZN) (LON:AZN) (Nasdaq:AZN) reported on Thursday that high-level results from a planned interim analysis of a Phase III trial showed that in patients with resectable early-stage (IIA-IIIB) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), treatment with Imfinzi (durvalumab) in combination with neoadjuvant chemotherapy before surgery and as adjuvant monotherapy after surgery demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in event-free survival (EFS) versus neoadjuvant chemotherapy alone followed by surgery.

Imfinzi was well tolerated and no new safety concerns were observed in the neoadjuvant and adjuvant settings.

The trial will continue as planned to assess key secondary endpoints including disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS).

"Patients with resectable non-small cell lung cancer face unacceptably high rates of recurrence, despite treatment with chemotherapy and surgery," said Susan Galbraith, executive vice president of Oncology R&D at AstraZeneca. "We have shown that adding Imfinzi both before and after surgery significantly increased the time patients live without recurrence or progression events. We will continue to follow patients for overall survival."