AstraZeneca Whale Racing With Minnow to Develop Lung Cancer Drug

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The race to develop a new class of lung-cancer medicines is pitting one of the world’s biggest drugmakers against a five-year-old startup.

AstraZeneca Plc, the U.K.’s second-largest pharmaceutical company, and Clovis Oncology Inc. of Boulder, Colorado, both intend to seek approval from regulators next year. Both drugs, which target a form of the disease that has resisted treatment, have received breakthrough therapy designation from the Food and Drug Administration, meaning their review will be expedited.