New AstraZeneca breast cancer drug shows 'meaningful improvement' in survivability rates

AstraZeneca has revealed that one of its new drugs has shown a ‘meaningful improvement’ in survivability rates in patients suffering from an aggressive form of breast cancer.

The FTSE 100 pharma giant said a late-stage trial of its Enhertu treatment showed the drug demonstrated a ‘highly statistically significant’ improvement on an existing drug cocktail when it was combined with another medicine, Pertuzumab.

The trial was testing Enhertu’s effectiveness against HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.

Only 30 per cent of those diagnosed with the illness survive beyond five years.

AstraZeneca said the results from the trial were the first in more than a decade to show a new medicine had been more effective across a broad range of patients at treating the illness, against the current standard of care.