6 Jun 2023 • According to results of a decade-long global clinical trial, a once-daily new pill osimertinib has shown promise of reducing the risk of death from lung cancer by half. Taking the drug osimertinib after surgery dramatically reduced the risk of patients dying by 51%, results presented Sunday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology(ASCO)'s annual meeting in Chicago and simultaneously published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

• In an international study of 682 lung cancer patients, roughly half of the participants were given the daily pill(80 mg) for three years, while the other half received a placebo.
• Everyone in the trial had a mutation of the EGFR gene, which is found in about a quarter of global lung cancer cases, and accounts for as many as 40% of cases in Asia.
• After five years, 88% of patients who took the daily pill after the removal of their tumour were still alive, compared with 78% of patients treated with a placebo.
• Overall, there was a 51% lower risk of death for those who received osimertinib compared with those who received placebo.

Treatment after surgery with osimertinib(also known as Tagrisso) among patients with completely resected, EGFR-mutated, stage IB to IIIA non–small-cell lung cancer, “significantly lowered” the risk of death in lung cancer patients, the trial results reported. “Adjuvant osimertinib demonstrated an unprecedented, highly statistically significant and clinically meaningful overall survival benefit in patients,” the report said.

Source: ASCO | Read full story