A once-daily pill halved people’s risk of dying from common lung cancer when they took the drug after surgery to remove a tumor, according to the results of a global study. Research recently found that taking the drug osimertinib after surgery dramatically reduced patients’ risk of death by 51 percent.
The researchers randomly assigned eligible patients in a 1:1 ratio to receive osimertinib (80 mg once daily) or placebo until disease recurrence was observed. Of the 682 patients who underwent randomisation, 339 received osimertinib, also known as Tagrisso and manufactured by AstraZeneca, and 343 received a placebo.
Osimertinib reduced the risk of death by 51 percent
In the primary analysis population, an estimated 85 percent of patients treated with osimertinib were alive after five years, compared with 73 percent on placebo, the researchers said.
In the overall study population, an estimated 88 percent of patients treated with osimertinib were alive after five years, compared with 78 percent on placebo. The study found that osimertinib reduced the risk of death by 51 percent compared with placebo in both primary population analyses, the researchers said.
“These highly anticipated overall survival results, with 88 percent of patients alive at five years, are a significant breakthrough in the treatment of EGFR-mutated early-stage lung cancer,” said the study’s principal investigator, Roy S. Herbst, Associate Director and Chief of Medical Oncology at Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital, USA.
“These data underscore that adjuvant treatment with osimertinib provides patients with the best chance for long-term survival,” Herbst said.
Susan Galbraith, executive vice president of oncology research and development, AstraZeneca, said osimertinib cut the risk of death by more than half in the adjuvant setting, further establishing this transformative drug as a backbone treatment for epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mutated lung cancer. .
“These results highlight the importance of early diagnosis of lung cancer patients, testing for EGFR mutations, and treating all patients with EGFR mutations with Tagrisso (osimertinib),” Galbraith said. The results of the study were presented on Monday during a plenary session at the 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago, US.
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