May 31 (Reuters) - Pfizer ( PFE ) said it expects its

cancer drug Lorbrena to top $1 billion in annual sales by 2030

on the strength of data presented on Friday showing most

patients treated for a rare form of advanced lung cancer in a

clinical trial were alive without the disease worsening after

five years.

Lorbrena, like Pfizer's ( PFE ) Xalkori, is designed to treat cancer

with a mutation of a specific gene called anaplastic lymphoma

kinase, or ALK.

Sixty percent of ALK-positive patients with advanced lung

cancer who were treated with Lorbrena had no disease progression

after five years, according to follow-up results from the

company's Phase 3 CROWN trial unveiled at the American Society

of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago.

That compared with five-year progression-free survival of

just 8% of patients treated with Xalkori.

About 53% of Lorbrena patients whose cancer had spread to

the brain at the start of the trial were alive without disease

progression after five years, the data also showed.

"We believe this is a blockbuster opportunity for Pfizer ( PFE ),"

Chief Oncology Officer Chris Boshoff said in an interview.

With "increased uptake, increased market penetration, longer

duration of treatment, many more patients tested" for ALK

mutations, Boshoff said, "we believe it's a very different

opportunity than Xalkori," which never reached blockbuster sales

of more than $1 billion annually.

Boshoff said China would be a particularly important market

for Lorbrena. While 4% of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)

patients globally have ALK-positive tumors, up to 7% of patients

in China do. NSCLC is the most common type of lung cancer.

Boshoff also noted that many patients in Pfizer's ( PFE ) clinical

trials have been on Lorbrena for more than 5 years, compared to

median progression-free survival of 10 to 11 months for Xalkori.

Lorbrena, which won U.S. approval in March of 2021, had

sales of $164 million in the first quarter of 2024, up 46% from

a year earlier. The company expects double-digit growth to

continue in coming quarters, Boshoff said.

Investors have fled from Pfizer ( PFE ) as billions of dollars in

COVID-19 vaccine and treatment sales disappeared with waning

pandemic concerns.

The company responded with a $43 billion purchase of cancer

drugmaker Seagen, cost cuts, and an internal restructuring that

prioritized its cancer drugs.

In February, the New York-based drugmaker said its cancer

unit would have at least eight blockbuster drugs by 2030, up

from five currently.