Durvalumab

Durvalumab is a human immunoglobulin G1 kappa (IgG1κ) monoclonal antibody and a novel immune-checkpoint inhibitor for cancer treatment. Produced by recombinant DNA technology in Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cell suspension culture, durvalumab is a programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) blocking antibody that works to promote normal immune responses that attack tumour cells.

Durvalumab is marketed under the brand name Imfinzi, which is available for intravenous injections. It was granted accelerated approval by the FDA in May 2017 for the treatment of selected patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma. In September 2018, durvalumab was approved by the EMA for the treatment of adult patients with locally advanced, unresectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), only if PD-L1 is expressed in ≥ 1% of tumour cells and there was no observable disease progression following platinum-based chemoradiation therapy. On March 27, 2020, durvalumab was approved by the FDA for use in combination with etoposide and either carboplatin or cisplatin as first-line treatment of patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC).