A targeted lung cancer drug cut the risk of death by 44% against two approved rivals — in a head-to-head trial

Most lung cancer trials compare a new drug with older chemotherapy. The Phase 3 Krascendo 1 trial did something harder: it pitted the experimental drug divarasib directly against two already-approved targeted medicines, sotorasib and adagrasib, in 338 people whose lung cancers carry a mutation called KRAS G12C and had already been treated. Divarasib won on every measure reported at the ESMO Congress in Madrid and published in The New England Journal of Medicine: median survival 17.7 months versus 12, tumours held back for 9.8 months versus 5.7, responses in 58.4% versus 32.3% of patients — and fewer severe treatment side effects.

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