There is exciting news for people who have a certain kind of lung cancer.
A pill called Tagrisso can cut the chance of dying from lung cancer in half if it’s taken every day after surgery.
This discovery was shared at a big meeting of cancer doctors in Chicago, hosted by the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO).
The Challenge of Lung Cancer
Lung cancer is a really tough illness. Every year, it causes about 1.8 million deaths around the world. That’s more deaths than any other kind of cancer.
The Magic of Tagrisso
Tagrisso is a medicine made by a company called AstraZeneca. It’s used for a certain kind of lung cancer called non-small cell cancer, which is the most common kind.
It works best in people who have a certain change, or mutation, in their cancer cells.
These mutations are found in about 10 to 25 out of every 100 lung cancer patients in the United States and Europe, and even more in Asia – about 30 to 40 out of 100.
The Study
In the study, about 680 people with early-stage lung cancer from over 20 countries took part. They all had surgery first to remove their cancer.
After that, half of them took Tagrisso every day and the other half took a fake pill called a placebo.
The results showed that the people who took Tagrisso were 51% less likely to die than the ones who took the placebo.
After five years, 88 out of every 100 people who took Tagrisso were still alive, compared to 78 out of 100 people who took the placebo.
Expert Opinions
The experts were really excited about these results. Roy Herbst of Yale University, who presented them, said the results were “impressive.”
He explained that Tagrisso stops cancer from spreading to the brain, liver, and bones.
Nathan Pennell of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation said it’s hard to express how important this finding is.
He pointed out that it means doctors can now give personalized treatment to patients with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer.
Already Available
Tagrisso has already been approved for use in many countries and has already been given to about 700,000 people, according to AstraZeneca.
It got the okay in the United States in 2020 for early-stage lung cancer based on earlier data. But not all doctors have started using it, and many were waiting for new data on how it affects overall survival.
Herbst stressed the need to test patients to see if they have the EGFR mutation. If they don’t, they can’t use this new treatment.
Tagrisso does have some side effects like severe tiredness, skin rashes, or diarrhea. But the benefits it offers to patients with non-small cell lung cancer are truly remarkable.
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The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
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