AstraZeneca up to 8th place on the Innovation Index

The Pharmaceutical Innovation and Invention Index aims at ranking companies in their ability to bring products from Phase I/II to market and commercialize them successfully, and utilizes a range of clinical, regulatory and commercial metrics to do this, ranging from the corporate level down to individual products.

Sources include company websites, third party institutions (e.g. FDA, clinicaltrials.gov), syndicated and analyst reports, etc, which are analyzed and rolled up at company level for innovation and commercialization and ranked

AstraZeneca in 2021.

One of the drivers of this year’s innovation ranking is attributed to Tagrisso’s major expansion by achieving an FDA approval in early-stage EGFR-mutated NSCLC patients. This follows their previous success in creating a new standard for treating metastatic EGFR-mutated NSCLC. Tagrisso’s early-stage approval was granted based on the phase III Adaura trial, which was stopped two years early due to early positive efficacy signal. Data from the Adaura trial also demonstrated that Tagrisso when used as an adjuvant post-surgery, cut the risk of CNS recurrence by an impressive 82%.

Also in oncology, AZ and Merck’s Lynparza received an FDA nod for use in ovarian cancer patients regardless of BRCA mutation status as a maintenance therapy in combination with Roche’s Avastin. Later in the year, AZ secured another FDA approval in prostate cancer with data that demonstrated the drug cut the risk of death by 31% over J&J’s Zytiga and Pfizer and Astellas’s Xtandi. Lynparza now holds the lead among the PARP inhibitors by having the highest number of indications under its belt across tumor types, including ovarian cancer, breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, and prostate cancer.

In chronic lung disease, AZ gained traction with its three- in-one inhaler Breztri, which demonstrated significantly reduced exacerbations in patients with moderate to severe COPD. Furthering the effort, Fasenra scored positive phase III data by demonstrating that it significantly reduced the size of nasal polyps and the seriousness of nasal blockage among patients suffering from chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps. In another phase 3b trial it spared the use of corticosteroids use in 62% of severe asthma patients.

On the flip side, AZ’s invention score was heavily impacted by tezepelumab’s phase III trial failure, as the drug missed the mark on achieving statistical significance.

Compared to placebo, in reducing the daily oral corticosteroid dose without the loss of asthma control.

Overall, the outlook for 2020 was very positive for AZ. The company advanced therapies across multiple therapy areas, as well as developed a lifesaving COVID- 19 vaccine that is currently being administered worldwide.