AstraZeneca's breast cancer drug Etcamah fails trial, peak sales may drop by $3.8 billion

Analysts say that AstraZeneca’s breast cancer drug trial failure could reduce the drug’s potential sales by several billion dollars. The drug, called Etcamah, failed in a late-stage study—targeting patients with recurrent or metastatic breast cancer who hadn’t received any treatment yet—to delay disease progression more effectively than standard therapy, the pharmaceutical company announced Friday evening. This failure could reduce peak sales by as much as $3.8 billion. AstraZeneca is renowned for developing blockbuster cancer drugs, and CEO Pascal Soriot now faces pressure to prove that the company’s internal pipeline of new drugs can succeed. AstraZeneca also reported positive data for two lung cancer drugs over the weekend.