In Certain Types of Lung Cancer, Targeted Drug Tagrisso Slashed Recurrence Rates, New Study Says

About three in ten cases of non-small cell lung cancer are operable. That means surgeons can completely remove the cancerous tissue from the lungs. But about half the people who have curative surgery will have a recurrence, often somewhere else in the body, such as the brain, within a few years. Chemotherapy after surgery helps prevent some recurrences and deaths, but not most. Tagrisso, on the other hand, may cut the risk of recurrence by more than 80 percent in EGFR-positive non-small lung cancer.

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"These results will change the way we practice," Roy Herbst, MD, PhD, who is Chief of Medical Oncology at Yale Cancer Center, tells SurvivorNet. "Once the drug is approved for this use, it will be critical to test for this mutation after surgery to use this agent in our patients."

Study Results Bring New Hope

For three years, clinical trial researchers followed 682 people with EGFR-positive non-small cell lung cancer that was removed by surgery. During that time, half took Tagrisso every day. The others took a placebo (or sugar pill). Two years later, 90 percent of the people in the Tagrisso group with stages II to IIIA disease were alive and cancer-free. The same was true for 44 percent of those in the placebo group. Across all disease stages, 89 percent were alive and cancer-free in the medication group; 52 percent in the placebo group. Tagrisso drastically cut recurrence and brain metastases.

Dr. Leena Gandhi talks clinical trials and late-stage lung cancer.

"The data show an 80 percent decrease in recurrence rate with an 82 percent decrease in brain metastases," Herbst says.

Tagrisso Targets the Tumor's Growth Mechanism

Cancer tumors aren't all alike. Different tumors can have different genetic mutations that help them grow and spread. Targeted therapy shuts down the specific gene mutation that helps that particular cancer thrive. Doctors run genetic tests, also known as comprehensive biomarker testing, on tumor cells to see if there are any genetic mutations that available drugs can target. Tagrisso blocks a mutation called EGFR, which is present in about 15 percent of lung cancers.

Related: Comprehensive Biomarker Testing for Lung Cancer: Who Needs It? What’s It For?

This drug is already FDA-approved for metastatic non-small cell lung cancer that has the EGFR mutation.  But, the findings of this study could make it available to people long before their cancer becomes metastatic.

"I believe this sets a new paradigm," Herbst says, "bringing EGFR -targeted therapy to the earliest stages of lung cancer treatment."

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