Taking Osimertinib developed by AstraZeneca after surgery can significantly reduce the risk of death by 51%
Posted Date – Tue, 6 Jun 23 at 12:44am
Representative images.
New York: A new drug could cut the risk of dying from lung cancer in half, according to the results of a decade-long global clinical trial.
The results, presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (Asco) in Chicago, showed that patients who took the drug osimertinib, developed by AstraZeneca, significantly reduced their risk of death by 51%.
Osimertinib, marketed under the name Tagrisso, targets a specific type of lung cancer in patients with non-small cell carcinoma (the most common type) that show a specific type of mutation.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the world, accounting for approximately 1.8 million deaths each year.
“Thirty years ago, there was nothing we could do for these patients,” said lead author Dr Roy Herbst, deputy director of the Yale Cancer Center, quoted by the Guardian as saying. “Now we have this powerful drug.
“50% is a big problem for any disease, but it’s certainly a big problem for a disease like lung cancer, which is often very resistant to treatment.”
The trial involved patients aged 30 to 86 in 26 countries and looked at whether the pill could help people with non-small cell lung cancer.
Everyone in the trial had a mutation in the EGFR gene — which is found in about a quarter of lung cancer cases worldwide — and accounts for 40 percent of cases in Asia. EGFR mutations are more common in women than men, and are more common in people who have never smoked or who have been light smokers.
More people diagnosed with lung cancer must be tested for EGFR mutations, according to study results
The pill proved to be “practice-changing” and should become “the standard of care” for the one in four lung cancer patients with EGFR mutations worldwide, Herbst said.
“This further reinforces the need to identify these patients with available biomarkers at diagnosis and before treatment begins.”
Five years later, 88 percent of patients who took the daily pill after their tumors were removed were still alive, compared with 78 percent of those who received a placebo, the report said.
