In The "Headlines That Exaggerate" Dept.: AZ's Data At ASCO Was Encouraging, But Won't Supplant Any First Line Immuno-Oncology Standard Of Care...

I won't quote the silly headline, but as you might guess, from Seeking Alpha -- it is click-bait. [I read it, so you won't have to. Hah!] The article -- at the end -- does do a fair job of summarizing the Summit data we mentioned last week, though. So there is that.

Yep -- the breathless headline implied that Astra is about to eclipse Merck -- in oncology. Not even close. Its main win was in end stage lung cancer, and given that lung cancer is far more often diagnosed in its early stages here in the US and EU and UK, Keytruda will remain the therapy of choice. For the small portion of patients who remain undiagnosed until near the end of their lives, AZ's candidate looks quite promising (albeit in an ever-shrinking patient base -- and one that won't live very long, in any event). Here's the rest, from the rather ham-handed SeekingAlpha outlet:

. . .Presenting data from its Phase 3 LAURA trial on Sunday, Astra (AZN) said its tyrosine kinase inhibitor Tagrisso, as a late-line option, cut the risk of disease progression or death by 84% in certain patients with lung cancer.

In another Phase 3 trial called ADRIATIC, which was also selected for a plenary session, AZN’s PD-L1-targeting immunotherapy Imfinzi (durvalumab) as a single agent reached the dual primary endpoints in small cell lung cancer (SCLC). . . .

Now you know. . . onward -- to a sunny morning, and later, a Zoom chat with my smartly far-flung in interests, globe trotting adult kiddos. . . grin.

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