May 31 (Reuters) - A study presented at a medical conference on Sunday concluded that an experimental drug developed by China-based Akiso helped patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer live 15 percent longer than B1 Medicines' immunotherapy Tifembra and reduced the risk of death by more than a third.

The study summary stated that patients who received ifonisimab and chemotherapy lived for an average of 27.9 months, compared with 23.7 months for those who received tevimbra and chemotherapy.

Akiso announced in October that ifonisimab met the study's main objective, showing that it reduced disease progression or death by 40 percent compared to tevimbra, before overall survival data were available.

The study, conducted in China, included 532 patients newly diagnosed with stage III and IV non-small cell squamous cell lung cancer. It compared the drugs ifonisimab and tifembran as initial or first-line treatment. All patients also received chemotherapy.

The study results will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago on Sunday.

Dr. David Spiegel, chief scientist at the Sarah Cannon Research Institute in Nashville, Tennessee, said during a press briefing on Saturday that it was unclear whether the trial conducted in China would apply to a larger segment of the population because racial differences sometimes affect how drugs work, but he explained that the results were "very encouraging."

Ifonisimab belongs to a newer class of drugs known as bispecific antibodies. It works on two targets: it blocks a protein called PD-1 that helps cancer evade an attack by the immune system, and a second protein called VEGF that can promote tumor growth.

Akiso said that with improved survival data thanks to the dual-target drug, and based on the drug's characteristics in terms of disadvantages and advantages, it is expected to become the approved treatment for advanced cases of non-small cell squamous cell lung cancer.