AstraZeneca share price: Group’s Tagrisso approved in China

AstraZeneca’s (LON:AZN) oncology treatment Tagrisso has been granted approval in China, the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker has said. The news marks a boost for the Anglo-Swedish pharmco which has bet on oncology as one of its key therapy areas to propel growth going forward.

AstraZeneca’s share price, however, have been subdued in London in today’s session, having given up 0.58 percent to 7,387.00p as of 15:05 BST. The pharmco’s shares are underperforming the broader London market, with the benchmark FTSE 100 index having climbed into positive territory and currently standing 0.56 percent higher at 7,308.55 points.

Tagrisso approved in China

AstraZeneca announced in a statement today that it had received marketing authorisation from China’s National Medical Products Administration for its treatment osimertinib, marketed as Tagrisso, as first-line treatment for adults with locally-advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumours have the genetic mutations of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) exon 19 deletions or exon 21 (L858R) substitutions.

The approval followed a Priority Review Pathway and is based on results from a late-stage trial in which Tagrisso provided a statistically-significant and clinically- meaningful improvement in progression-free survival.

“The FLAURA trial has demonstrated the potential of Tagrisso as a new standard of care and as an important new 1st-line treatment option for non-small cell lung cancer patients in China, where approximately 30-40-percent are diagnosed with an EGFR mutation – more than any other country in the world,” Dave Fredrickson, Executive Vice President, Oncology, commented in the statement.

Today’s news comes after this week AstraZeneca posted upbeat trial results for its cardiovascular treatments Brilinta and Farxiga.

Analyst ratings update

JPMorgan Chase & Co, which rates the FTSE 100 company as a ‘buy,’ set a target on the AstraZeneca share price of 7,900p. According to MarketBeat, the blue-chip drugmaker currently has a consensus ‘hold’ rating and an average valuation of 6,729.41p.