A new targeted pill doubled survival for a stubborn lung cancer — 17.7 months against 12

Some lung cancers carry a mutation called KRAS G12C, and once the first targeted drugs stop working, options narrow fast. In the global Phase 3 Krascendo 1 study, led by Dr Ferdinandos Skoulidis of MD Anderson Cancer Center and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, patients whose cancers had progressed after earlier treatment received either a next-generation targeted drug, divarasib, or one of the two currently approved drugs for this mutation. Divarasib cut the risk of the disease progressing by 42% and the risk of death by 44% — patients lived a median of 17.7 months, against 12 months on the existing drugs. 'For patients with KRAS G12C-mutant lung cancer, extending survival and delaying progression are the outcomes that matter most,' Skoulidis said. 'These results establish divarasib as a new standard of care.'

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: tech innovation