A lung cancer pill drastically cuts the risk of death after surgery
How It Works UK|Issue 179
A once-daily pill halved people’s risk of dying from a common lung cancer when they took the drug after tumour-removal surgery, new trial data shows
JENNIFER NALEWICKI
A lung cancer pill drastically cuts the risk of death after surgery

Made by the biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, Tagrisso, also known as osimertinib, reduced the five-year risk of death in lung cancer patients by 51 per cent. The study was the result of a 682-patient trial that included participants diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), one of two main types of primary lung cancer. All patients also had a mutation in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene, which codes for a protein found on the surfaces of cells. EGFR mutations can boost cancer’s ability to grow and spread, raising patients’ risk of cancer recurrence post-treatment.

This story is from the Issue 179 edition of How It Works UK.

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This story is from the Issue 179 edition of How It Works UK.

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