According to the CDC, lung cancer is the third most common cancer in America and the leading cause of cancer death, accounting for 23% of all cancer-related deaths.
These are some grim numbers that hundreds of thousands of people in the United States will be forced to face as their reality with a lung cancer diagnosis.
For those people, the standard treatment protocol includes the following options:
Surgery
Radiation therapy
Chemotherapy
Targeted therapy
A combination of the above
However, a new option has recently been developed that may change the approach to treatment for advanced lung cancer patients.
Advanced Lung Cancer
If the cancer is caught early on, surgery is much easier.
Unfortunately, for those who suffer from advanced lung cancer, surgery can be difficult or potentially not even an option at all. That’s because the more advanced it becomes, the further the cancer cells spread, making complete removal of the cancer nearly impossible.
This leaves patients with the options of radiation and chemotherapy, both of which serve merely as a hope that the tumor won’t progress, but provides no guarantee.
That is, until recently.
Amgen Inc. scientists have developed a new pill called Lumakras. In clinical trials, this pill has been shown to reduce the risk of lung cancer progression by a whopping 34% when compared to chemotherapy in those with advanced lung cancer.
Patients who took Lumakras were able to go over 5 ½ months without any cancer progression compared to 4 ½ months with chemotherapy.
This pill works to target a gene mutation called KRAS that exists in about 13% of advanced lung cancers, which is the most common stage of lung cancer.
The FDA approved Lumakras last year as an option for advanced lung cancer patients who bear the KRAS mutation and found that their lung cancer had progressed following chemotherapy and other treatment options.
Survival
The trials showed no significant difference in survival time for those who took Lumakras versus chemotherapy.
However, it’s important to note that the Lumakras trials were not designed to improve survival. Rather, they were designed to help slow the progression of the tumor and to provide the option of a pill versus going to the hospital for chemotherapy.
Side Effects
It’s hard to expect cancer treatments to come without side effects, and the newly designed Lumakras is no exception to this. Amgen claims that 33% of its trial patients experienced serious side effects including diarrhea and elevated liver enzymes, but that’s lower than the 40% experienced with chemotherapy.
Additional Uses
This form of Lumakras targets advanced lung cancers, but Amgen is also currently working on trials that test if the drug can be beneficial for those who catch their lung cancer earlier on. Additional studies are underway to continue this work.
In addition to its application for lung cancer, Amgen has also been working on trials that combine Lumakras with other cancer drugs for those suffering from colorectal cancer.
