BofA Notes AstraZeneca's Volrustomig Late-stage Study Fail; Buy Maintained

08:05 AM EDT, 08/17/2026 (MT Newswires) -- BofA Global Research on Monday noted AstraZeneca's (AZN.L, AZN.ST) discontinuation of its phase 3 trial for volrustomig in combination with chemotherapy as a first-line therapy for metastatic non-small cell lung cancer patients with PD-L1 negative tumors. The decision comes after a review by the Independent Data Monitoring Committee concluded that the combination is unlikely to meet the dual primary endpoints of progression-free survival or overall survival in the said patients, compared with the comparator arm. "This trial fail, while high risk, brings AZN pipeline risk back into focus following high profile Wainua PIII fail and recent high profile media speculation for a [Bristol-Myers Squibb] merger. Investors have been consistently more cautious AZN's bispecific strategy (this and PD1/TIGIT) and may further investor caution on strength of oncology pipeline into an oncology patent cliff (Lynparza 27E, Imfinzi 31E, Calquence & Tagrisso 32E)," the research firm said. "In addition to today's release, we flag a positive PIII read for [Orpathys] + Tagrisso in 2L MET-driven [epidermal growth factor receptor mutated] NSCLC (SAFFRON), which although smaller, provides additional opp in lung cancer alongside Datroway." The buy rating on the London-listed stock was maintained, with a price objective of 165 pounds sterling.