A combination of new drugs recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration may be able to halt the dangerous progression of lung cancer, and do so for more than 40% longer than previously possible, a new drug combination recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration said in a broad-based study funded by pharmaceutical giant Janssen. Shown in clinical trials.
Doctors have hailed the breakthrough as “amazing”.
Lung cancer causes approximately 1.8 million deaths annually. This insidious disease is known for very low survival rates, especially in the advanced stages.
A new drug combination can halt the progression of lung cancer for a long time, a new trial has shown. Chinnapong – Stock.adobe.com Lung cancer kills approximately 2 million people annually. The new treatment halted disease progression for an average of about two years. Mark Kostich – Stock.adobe.com
The Guardian reported that a cocktail of the monoclonal antibody amivantamab and the tyrosine kinase inhibitor lazertinib was administered to this group of patients in a precarious state, and they remained alive and progression-free for an average of 23.7 months. It was reported that.
Patients who received standard treatment with a drug called osimertinib had an average progression-free survival of 16.6 months, the report said.
The findings come as experts hail a “golden age” of cancer research, with reports that understanding is deepening and treatments are improving.
“It is surprising that this new combination shows longer cancer control effects than osimertinib, which itself was a breakthrough treatment only a few years ago,” said Dr. said Martin Forster, a medical oncologist at .
“A better understanding of the biology that causes lung cancer has facilitated the development of these targeted therapies,” Professor Forster explained.
The discovery came during what has been called the “golden age” of cancer research. Dragana Gordic – Stock.adobe.com
More than 1,000 patients were enrolled in the Phase 3 trial, which was conducted in multiple countries from 2020 to 2022.
All had advanced stages of the common non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
They were randomly assigned to either the drug combination therapy or standard care that the entire patient group would normally receive.
“We see that combining these two drugs, which block cancer growth in different ways, significantly improves progression-free survival compared to the drugs we currently use.” said Raffaele Califano, Consultant Medical Oncologist. .
“Survival rates for lung cancer remain very low compared to other types of disease, so these positive results are welcome.”
“We are in a golden age of cancer research. A better understanding of the causes of certain cancers will lead to new and better ways to beat the disease,” said Cancer Research UK. Anna Kinsella told the Guardian.
“Research like this will help more people live longer, better lives without the fear of cancer.”
The FDA gave the green light to the treatment in August.
The newspaper previously reported that researchers are campaigning to ban the sale of cigarettes to Gen Z smokers, claiming this would save 1.2 million lives over 70 years that would normally be lost to lung cancer. There is.
