AbbVie ABBV-1480 Phase 3 Lung Cancer Trial Starts September 22, 2026: First-Line NSCLC Study Versus Pembrolizumab

AbbVie (ABBV) has a Phase 3 lung cancer trial reaching its expected start date of September 22, 2026, according to trial registration data tracked by BioSniper since September 2, 2026. The study tests the company's pipeline candidate ABBV-1480 combined with chemotherapy directly against pembrolizumab combined with chemotherapy as first-line treatment for locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. For a company with a market capitalization of roughly $439.6 billion in our snapshot, a head-to-head Phase 3 against the dominant first-line checkpoint inhibitor class is a high-stakes design — this preview covers the verified study details, the unknowns, and where ABBV-1480 sits in AbbVie's late-phase pipeline.

The event

The trial is registered in our catalyst dataset as:

"A Randomized, Multiregional, Open-Label Phase 3 Clinical Trial of ABBV-1480 Combined With Chemotherapy Versus Pembrolizumab Combined With Chemotherapy for the First Line Treatment of Locally Advanced/Metastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer"

The expected start date — September 22, 2026 — is recorded with "exact" date confidence. As of publication, our data contains no actual-start confirmation; the verified fact is the registered plan, six days out.

What's verified

• Company: AbbVie Inc., ticker ABBV, active listing status.
• Event type: Phase 3 trial start.
• Expected date: September 22, 2026, "exact" confidence.
• First tracked: September 2, 2026.
• Design elements from the registered title: randomized; multiregional; open-label; Phase 3; ABBV-1480 combined with chemotherapy; comparator pembrolizumab combined with chemotherapy; first-line setting; locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.
• Company scale: Market capitalization of $439,623,450,624 in our snapshot — the largest company in our current coverage window.
• Drug name provenance: ABBV-1480 is parsed from the registered trial title (source: title_parse in our dataset), not from a structured drug field.

What remains unknown

• Enrollment size: UNKNOWN in our data.
• What ABBV-1480 is: our event record carries the code name only — no target, modality, or mechanism description — and we will not characterize it beyond the registered title.
• Which chemotherapy backbone: the title names "chemotherapy" without specifying the regimen.
• Primary endpoints: not specified in our structured fields.
• Actual start and readout timing: not recorded.

Why the comparator matters

A first-line Phase 3 that places pembrolizumab-plus-chemotherapy in the control arm is registering a direct challenge to the standard that currently defines first-line metastatic NSCLC treatment. Open-label design (recorded in the title) is a design fact our data verifies; what it implies for conduct and blinding we leave to the registration itself. Whether ABBV-1480 can compete is precisely what the trial exists to answer, and our data contains no efficacy information.

Platform context: AbbVie's late-phase engine

Our tracker holds 50 catalyst records for AbbVie. The near-term Phase 3 neighborhood around this September 22 start includes:

• Etentamig (ABBV-383) — two Phase 3 starts expected November 29–30, 2026: one versus Dara-CyBorD in newly diagnosed AL amyloidosis, and one in combination with pomalidomide versus standard available therapies in relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (2L+).
• Telisotuzumab adizutecan — a Phase 2 open-label randomized study with pembrolizumab as first-line treatment in recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (expected September 30, 2026), a Phase 2 master-protocol study in pancreatobiliary cancers (expected September 22, 2026 — the same day as the ABBV-1480 start), and a Phase 3 recorded in May 2026.
• An additional Phase 3 placebo-controlled double-blind study recorded August 24, 2026.

The portfolio is rounded out by twelve patent-expiry records on approved NDAs spanning 2027 to 2043 — the commercial base behind one of the busiest trial calendars we track.

Counting the registration records visible in our dataset, the September 22 start lands in a stretch where AbbVie's late-phase calendar alone shows roughly ten Phase 3 or Phase 2/3 records dated within 2026 — from the seamless Phase 2b/3 recorded June 1 to the etentamig pair closing the year in late November. Layered under those are first-in-human Phase 1 records for a series of numbered candidates (ABBV-932, ABBV-1451, ABBV-295, ABBV-722) and a Phase 3 readout record dated April 30, 2026 for atogepant added to onabotulinumtoxinA. The shape of the calendar is the verifiable fact; what any individual program achieves remains unknown in our data.

How to track it

• AbbVie company page — full catalyst calendar: https://biosniper.co/company/ABBV
• This trial-start event page: https://biosniper.co/calendar/event/5807328

Bottom line

A registered Phase 3 start on September 22, 2026 puts ABBV-1480 plus chemotherapy head-to-head with pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy in first-line locally advanced/metastatic NSCLC, with exact date confidence and a randomized, multiregional, open-label design. Enrollment size, mechanism, endpoints, and results are unknowns in our data. For AbbVie, it is one node in a 50-record calendar whose late-phase spine now runs through etentamig and telisotuzumab adizutecan — and this trial is where the oncology pipeline meets the hardest comparator in the setting.