It was found that a pill reduced the risk of dying from a type of lung cancer by half when the patient took it daily after undergoing surgery to remove the cancerous tumor, according to the “amazing” results of clinical trials presented on Sunday.
The findings were announced at the premier annual conference for cancer professionals hosted by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago, reports Al-Rai daily.
Osimertinib (sold under the name Tagriso), which was developed by the AstraZeneca drug group, targets a specific type of lung cancer called non-small-cell lung cancer that exhibits a specific type of mutation. These mutations (epidermal growth factor receptor) affect 10 to 25 percent of lung cancer patients in the United States and Europe, and 30 to 40 percent in Asia.
The clinical trial involved 680 participants with early-stage disease (stages 1b to 3a) in more than 20 countries. They first had to undergo surgery to remove the tumor, then half of the patients were given the treatment daily, while the other half took a placebo. It was found that those who took the treatment had a 51 percent lower risk of death compared to patients who took the placebo. After five years, 88 percent of the patients who took the treatment were still alive, compared to 7 percent of those who took a placebo.
Roy Herbst of Yale University, who presented the results in Chicago, said the data was “astonishing”. And he indicated in a press conference that the drug helps “prevent the spread of the disease to the brain, liver and bones.” He pointed out that surgery is possible for a third of non-small-cell lung cancer cases when the infection is diagnosed.
“It’s hard to say how important these findings are,” said Nathan Bennell of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, who was not involved in the study. He continued, “We have entered the era of diagnosed treatments for patients in the early stages,” and “the page should be turned on the one treatment for all,” that is, chemotherapy. Osimertinib is basically licensed in dozens of countries, and it was given to about 700,000 people, according to a statement by AstraZeneca.
It was approved in the United States in 2020 based on previous data that showed an improvement in the survival of patients who had recovered from the disease, that is, the time they lived without recurring cancer.
Roy Herbst explained that not all doctors approved the treatment yet, and were waiting for the data related to the global survival rate, which was presented on Sunday.
And he stressed the need to “examine patients” to see if they show a mutation in the human growth factor receptor, “otherwise it will be difficult to subject them to this new treatment.”
He explained that osimertinib, which targets the human growth factor receptor, causes side effects such as extreme tiredness, flushing of the skin or diarrhea.
