UK Regulator OKs PharmaMar, Immedica's Small Cell Lung Cancer Combo Therapy

06:54 AM EDT, 10/01/2026 (MT Newswires) -- The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency approved PharmaMar (PHM.MC) and Immedica's zepzelca in combination with atezolizumab as a first-line maintenance therapy for adult patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer, or ES-SCLC. The combination therapy targets patients with ES-SCLC whose disease has not progressed following induction therapy with atezolizumab, carboplatin and etoposide, according to a Thursday release. The clearance is based on results of the phase 3 IMforte trial, in which zepzelca, or lurbinectedin, plus atezolizumab lowered the risk of disease progression or death by 46%, and the risk of death by 27%, compared with atezolizumab alone. Zepzelca was developed by Spanish biopharmaceutical company PharmaMar and is distributed by its Swedish peer Immedica in the Nordics, the UK, Ireland, Central Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.