New Cancer Drug Beats Chemotherapy In New Study

A new study found that Amgen’s new lung cancer pill called Lumakras beat out a common chemotherapy in a late stage study, helping patients survive without their tumors getting worse.  However, it failed to prove that it reduced overall deaths, so more studies may be needed.  Lumakras is the first approved drug in an emerging class of treatments that target a genetic mutation called KRAS that is among the most common found in cancers.  The study, which found that those taking Lumakras went 5.6 months without their cancer getting worse, compared with 4.5 months for patients taking the chemotherapy docetaxel, was presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress in Paris.  It was conducted by researchers at the Sarah Cannon Research Institute at Tennessee Oncology.