Free Republic

The FDA-approved lung cancer drug osimertinib (sold under the brand name Tagrisso) slashes the risk of death by 51% for certain patients whose cancer is caught early, according to new trial data. “This should be the new standard of care for these patients,” Nathan Pennell, co-director of the Cleveland Clinic Lung Cancer Program, who wasn’t involved in the drug’s development, said in a statement for the American Society of Clinical Oncology. The drug: Lung cancer is the second-most common cancer in the world, with 2.2 million new diagnoses every year. The vast majority fall into a category called “non-small cell...

Tagrisso (osimertinib) nearly doubles disease-free survival in earlier-stage patients whose lung cancer is driven by a mutation in their EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) gene, researchers report. After four years of follow-up, disease-free survival was 73% in the Tagrisso group versus 38% in patients who received a placebo, updated results showed. The drug also cut patients' cancer recurrence in half compared to placebo, 27% versus 60%. In addition, patients were less likely to develop cancers in other parts of the body. "One of the main benefits of this drug is that it has good brain penetration and it's a whole-body...