A Phase III trial of AstraZeneca PLC’s Calquence has met its primary endpoint, marking the second time in as many months that the drug has passed a pivotal test.
AstraZeneca secured rights to the BTK inhibitor in 2015 when it paid $2.5bn for a majority stake in Acerta Pharma BV. Since then, the company has won approval for Calquence (acalabrutinib) in relapsed and refractory mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), a rare cancer, and initiated a late-phase development program designed to give it access to the larger chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) opportunity