Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday said its lung cancer treatment keeps people alive a minimum of a yr longer AstraZenecaTagrisso is the drug of selection against a certain sort of lung cancer.
J&J said in a press release that its drugs – Rybrevant and Lazcluze – showed a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in survival in comparison with Tagrisso in a pivotal study. The company expects the advantages to last a minimum of a yr and possibly longer, J&J executives said in an interview. The company plans to present the total results at a medical meeting later this yr.
“This is an absolute dynamite,” said Biljana Naumovic, president of U.S. Solid Tumor Oncology at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine. “People were looking for an overall survival difference.”
J&J is in search of to switch AstraZeneca's blockbuster Tagrisso, a once-daily pill that has transformed treatment for non-small cell lung cancer with EGFR mutations and prolonged median survival to about three years. These genetic errors cause cancer cells to multiply. They are answerable for between 10 and 15% of lung cancer cases within the USA American Lung Association.
J&J executives hailed the finding as a breakthrough that ought to change how this kind of lung cancer is treated. However, there isn’t a guarantee that doctors and patients will all switch to Rybrevant and Lazcluze since the therapy has more negative effects and requires infusions every few weeks, Dr. Stephen Liu, director of thoracic oncology and chief of developmental therapies on the Georgetown University Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.
“I think the announcement that this will make people live longer will require a tougher look,” Liu said.
He wants to search out out who benefited essentially the most so he can treat those patients more aggressively while sparing those that are less prone to have a response. Rybrevant and Lazcluze could cause people to develop a rash and cause their fingernails to chip.
Like Tagrisso, J&J's therapy blocks the EGFR protein to forestall cancer cells from growing. It also targets MET, a typical signaling pathway that cancer uses to develop resistance to drugs.
J&J predicts annual sales of Rybrevant and Lazcluze could exceed $5 billion. Tagrisso brought AstraZeneca about $6 billion in 2023.
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