SAUDI ARABIA – Abdul Latif Jameel Health has announced a collaboration with EQRx to bring two novel and affordable cancer treatments to 1.5 billion people in the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa at a fraction of the cost of existing approaches.

Both aumolertinib and sugemalimab have shown promising results in Phase III studies for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer, and they could offer treatment at a fraction of the cost of current and traditional approaches.

EQRx is dedicated to developing new medicines, making them more affordable, and reimagining medicine to address one of society’s most pressing health-care issues.

Abdul Latif Jameel Health will become EQRx’s regulatory and commercial partner for aumolertinib and sugemalimab, if approved, in selected markets throughout the Middle East region, as well as Turkey and all of Africa, under the terms of the agreement.

Both aumolertinib, an EGFR inhibitor, and sugemalimab, an anti-PD-L1 antibody, have shown promising Phase 3 data for the treatment of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Globally, lung cancer has been the second most commonly diagnosed cancer and leading cause of cancer death common diagnosed cancer for the last several decades.

It is estimated that every 15 seconds, a person across the world is diagnosed with lung cancer, and every 18 seconds, a person dies of the disease.

In 2020, there was an estimated 2.2 million new lung cancer diagnoses accounting for 12% of the global cancer burden.

Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related death worldwide, and NSCLC accounts for approximately 84% of all lung cancers.

Despite substantial improvements in survival in recent years for most other cancer types, there have only been small improvements in 5-year survival among patients diagnosed with lung cancer.

Despite the high mortality rates and poor survival outcomes associated with lung cancer, the next generation of targeted therapies and the emergence of immune checkpoint inhibitors have demonstrated long-term survival in subsets of patients.

As a result, these therapies may hold the key to improving lung cancer patient outcomes, leading to curable lung cancer in early-stage diagnoses and a chronic and manageable disease in advanced and metastatic disease.

Abdul Latif Jameel and EQRx partnership is a positive milestone that would significantly contribute to improved access to therapy and provide millions of people with access to “affordable new cancer treatments” and “create sustainable access to innovative medicines globally.”

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