Matching a drug to a mutation's shape gives lung-cancer patients months more

About 12% of lung cancers driven by the EGFR gene carry an unusual 'PACC' mutation shape that standard targeted drugs fit poorly. At MD Anderson Cancer Center, Xiuning Le's team tested a drug called firmonertinib, built for that shape, in 60 patients with advanced disease — and reported in the journal Cancer Cell that patients went a median of 11.1 to 16 months without their cancer worsening, depending on dose. Among 17 patients whose cancer had reached the brain, nearly half saw those tumours shrink, and 80% of patients cleared the mutation from their blood DNA. A global phase 3 trial, ALPACCA, has now launched to confirm the results.

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