Amgen: “Cuts risk of death from deadly small-cell lung cancer by 58%”—Combination therapy is the answer

Amgen announced that adding IMDELLTRA to IMFINZI reduced the hazard of death by 58% in a Phase 3 lung-cancer trial. The company's stock closed at $439.26 on Friday, trading at 19.2 times its adjusted earnings midpoint of $22.90. A 10% share-price gain would require roughly $1.25 billion more in annual adjusted net income, according to TECHi's calculations.

Amgen's Imdelltra, combined with AstraZeneca's Imfinzi, reduced lung cancer death risk by 58% in a trial. Amgen reports median survival of 21.1 months vs. 12.7 months with Imfinzi alone. Imdelltra sales grew to $288M in Q2 2026, but represents only 2.9% of Amgen's total revenue. Analysts expect Amgen's revenue to grow 4% annually through 2030.

A Phase 3 trial found that a combination of tarlatamab (Amgen) and durvalumab (AstraZeneca) reduced death risk by 58% and extended median survival to 21.1 months in extensive-stage small cell lung cancer patients. The study involved 563 patients across 29 countries. Amgen plans regulatory submissions.

Amgen's phase 3 trial (DeLLphi-305) showed that tarlatamab (Imdelltra) plus durvalumab (Imfinzi) improved overall survival (21.1 vs 12.7 months) and progression-free survival in extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC) patients. The combination also increased objective response rates. Data were presented at the 2026 ESMO Congress and published in The New England Journal of Medicine. The trial enrolled 563 patients, with median follow-up of 15.9-16.1 months.

AstraZeneca's Imfinzi and Amgen's Imdelltra combination therapy extended survival by eight months in advanced lung cancer patients, reducing death risk by 58% according to a trial. Side effects were manageable, with 1% experiencing neurological issues. AstraZeneca also reported positive bladder cancer data for Imfinzi plus Pfizer's Padcev. Both studies were presented at an oncology meeting in Madrid.

Durvalumab (Imfinzi) plus BCG improved disease-free survival (DFS) in BCG-naive, high-risk, papillary-only non–muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) patients, according to a subgroup analysis of the phase 3 POTOMAC trial. At 60.7 months, DFS events were 17% in the durvalumab arm vs 30% in the BCG-alone arm (HR, 0.56). The 48-month DFS rates were 84% vs 74%. AstraZeneca, the maker of durvalumab, is likely to benefit from these findings.