Zai Lab $ZLAB stock did a Triangle breakout on January 5, 2023, after a clinical trial for small cell lung cancer met its endpoint. The distance of the move going into the pattern suggests a target area of $55 to $75 is possible.
Zai Lab and Novocure Announce Lung Cancer Study Met Overall Survival Endpoint
The LUNAR study’s primary endpoint was met on January 5, 2023, according to a press release from Zai Lab and Novocure. This endpoint showed a statistically significant and clinically significant increase in overall survival compared to standard therapies alone. For stage 4 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that has progressed during or after treatment with platinum-based therapy, the LUNAR study is a pivotal, open-label, randomized study evaluating the safety and efficacy of tumor treating fields (TTFields) in combination with standard therapies.
According to the LUNAR study, patients who received TTFields and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) had a statistically significant and clinically significant improvement in overall survival compared to patients who received immune checkpoint inhibitors alone, and patients who received TTFields and docetaxel had a trend toward improved overall survival. The proportion of patients in the ICI and docetaxel cohorts of the experimental and control arms was evenly distributed, and the performance of the control arms was consistent with that of earlier studies. Patients who were a part of the study’s experimental arm tolerated TTFields therapy well.
“We are pleased with the positive readout of the LUNAR study. Prior to LUNAR, the last phase 3 trial to lead to significant improvement in overall survival in late-stage, platinum-resistant non-small cell lung cancer was six years ago, underlining the difficulty in treating this disease,” said William Doyle, Novocure’s Executive Chairman. “We are also pleased by the profound performance of the TTFields together with immunotherapy, which has the potential to meaningfully extend patient survival beyond what was previously possible. I would like to thank our patients and investigators for their courage and dedication in completing LUNAR. And, I would like to thank Novocure’s employees for their unrelenting commitment to patients and their perseverance in propelling Novocure to this major milestone.”
“We are excited about the potential of TTFields to address the unmet medical needs of lung cancer patients around the world. In China, lung cancer is the most common cancer type with approximately 700,000 new NSCLC cases diagnosed each year,” said Dr. Samantha Du, Founder, Chairperson, and CEO of Zai Lab. “We are pleased to contribute and be a part of the LUNAR study and this partnership is yet another great example of how collaboration benefits everyone.”
Novocure intends to present the complete findings of the LUNAR study at a subsequent medical meeting. In the second half of 2023, Novocure intends to submit a Premarket Approval application to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In addition to the FDA submission, Novocure anticipates filing for a CE Mark in the European Union at the same time.
