AstraZeneca Advances Immuno-Oncology Strategy with Early-Stage Imfinzi Success

In a recent video interview with Applied Clinical Trials, Nancy Ghattas, VP, US Oncology Commercial Franchise Head of Immuno-Oncology, AstraZeneca, discussed the significance of the Phase III MATTERHORN trial (NCT04592913) results for patients with early-stage or locally advanced gastric and gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancers. She highlighted how the Imfinzi-based perioperative regimen demonstrated a 22% reduction in the risk of death and improved overall survival regardless of PD-L1 status, marking the first immunotherapy in this setting to show such benefit. Ghattas emphasized the trial’s potential to establish a new standard of care in gastric and GEJ cancers and reflected on how these findings align with AstraZeneca’s broader immuno-oncology strategy to bring curative-intent treatments to patients earlier in their cancer journey.

The below interview transcript was lightly edited for clarity.

ACT: How does the success of the Imfinzi-based regimen in the MATTERHORN trial reflect AstraZeneca’s broader strategy and momentum in immuno-oncology?

Ghattas: At AstraZeneca, we’re very committed to pushing the boundaries of science. We have this North Star of ultimately eliminating cancer as a cause of death.

If I zoom in on the immuno-oncology space, most of our strategies are anchored around two pillars. The first is: how do we increase overall survival, especially for the hard-to-treat cancers? And the second is: how can we bring immuno-oncology earlier—into a curative-intent setting—where we can actually bend the curve and treat patients better?

We’ve always strongly believed that if you bring immuno-oncology therapies earlier, there’s a higher chance for better patient outcomes. Focusing on MATTERHORN, this is exactly what we’ve done. We’re treating a cancer that has historically been very hard to treat, with limited advancement in the space, while also bringing immunotherapy into the early setting.

And with that early setting, we are seeing better patient outcomes with curative intent. So, we’re holding true to our strategy, and we look forward to bringing even more immunotherapies into earlier settings—and to hard-to-treat cancer patients—in the near future.