AstraZeneca stock value falls by nearly £10bn after cancer drug trial results

Nearly £10bn has been wiped off the stock market value of AstraZeneca over concerns that a new lung cancer drug may not be as successful as had been hoped.

Shares in the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company fell by as much as 6% on Monday morning after it published the first results from its phase 3 trial for datopotamab deruxtecan, making it the biggest faller among FTSE 100 companies.

The company said the study showed that the drug, which it is developing with Daiichi Sankyo, could halt the progression of a patient’s cancer for longer than the drug currently considered the standard for chemotherapy, docetaxel, but that it was too soon to say with statistical significance if they would also live longer.