Among the “Blockbuster deals, products and payouts spell prospect of a riveting 2017” highlighted by the Financial Times there is the pharmanceutical company AstraZeneca, as  is due to publish results in 2017 from a large trial of its immunotherapy medicine, which is designed to turn the human body into a weapon against cancer.

In 2017  AstraZeneca will announce results from as many as three relevant Phase III oncology trials:  PACIFIC (durvalumab vs placebo), ARCTIC (durvalumab vs SoC (PD-L1 pos.), MYSTIC (durvalumab vs durva + treme vs SoC). 

The Financial Times set its expectations on this last one, Mystic,which is  testing Astra’s drug durvalummab  as an alternative to chemotherapy for untreated lung cancer patients, both on its own, and in combination with another type of immunotherapy. Some analysts think the failure in August of a trial of a similar medicine, made by Bristol-Myers Squibb, portends badly for the Mystic study, but if durvalumab were to succeed, Astra would be catapulted to a leading position in the lucrative market for immunotherapies.

Source: Financial Times-12/31/2016