There’s good news in the treatment of early non small cell lung cancer, Elizabeth Tracey reports

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Non small cell lung cancer has historically been associated with a poor prognosis. Now things are improving, Elizabeth Tracey reports

Expectations for people with lung cancer keep getting better, with a new study adding a drug to the regimen after someone has had surgery for non small cell lung cancer that’s extending survival even further. Kimmel Cancer Center director William Nelson at Johns Hopkins describes the trial.

Nelson: A drug called Osimertinib, now this trial suggesting that you might use it as adjuvant therapy. 680 people they could get chemotherapy if the doctor thought as adjuvant, trial spanned some 26 countries. It does appear to be effective whether it's along with chemotherapy or by itself. There was a 51% improvement in overall survival, 88% of the people who had this treatment were still alive at five years, so if you have your tumor sequenced you have this abnormality, this is the drug for you even in the adjuvant setting.  :30

Nelson says this underscores the need for genetic testing of tumors to find out if you’re a candidate for this regimen of treatment. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.