Summit Therapeutics (SMMT) shares were higher premarket Wednesday after the company said that a phase 3 trial conducted by Akeso in China found that combining ivonescimab with chemotherapy demonstrated a clinically meaningful benefit compared with a tislelizumab-based regimen in patients with advanced squamous non-small cell lung cancer.

The HARMONi-6 phase 3 study reached a primary endpoint of improving progression-free survival, based on an interim analysis by an independent committee, Summit said.

The benefit was seen regardless of whether patients had PD-L1-positive or negative tumors, and no unexpected safety issues were observed, the company said.

Summit also said this is the second late-stage trial in which an ivonescimab-based therapy has demonstrated a significant advantage over a PD-L1-based standard treatment.

The company said it is running HARMONi-3, a phase 3 study comparing ivonescimab plus chemotherapy against pembrolizumab with chemotherapy for newly diagnosed metastatic patients with NSCLC.