By Adria Calatayud

AstraZeneca PLC said Monday that its Calquence drug showed greater safety than an existing drug without compromising efficacy in a phase 3 trial with adults with previously treated, high-risk chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

The British pharmaceutical giant said Calquence met the primary goal of demonstrating noninferior progression-free survival in a head-to-head trial against existing drug ibrutinib.

The drug also met a secondary goal for safety, showing patients treated with Calquence had statistically significantly lower incidence of atrial fibrillation compared with patients treated with ibrutinib, AstraZeneca said.

"The totality of the data confirm our confidence in the favourable benefit-risk profile of Calquence," AstraZeneca's Executive Vice President Jose Baselga said.

Write to Adria Calatayud at adria.calatayud@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-25-21 0229ET