Scientists have developed a new pill that can lower the risk of death from a certain type of lung cancer by 50%. The clinical trial data says the pill has to be taken every day.
It helps prevent cancer from spreading to the brain, liver, and bones. The pill is already distributed to 700,000 people.
According to the study presented at the largest annual conference of cancer specialists - American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in Chicago - on Sunday, the drug osimertinib will be marketed under the name Tagrisso. It is shown to dramatically lower the risk of death by lung cancer by 51% after tumours were surgically removed.
Pharmaceutical group AstraZeneca has developed the pill to treat people suffering from so-called non-small cell cancer. It shows a particular type of mutation - the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). It is the most common type and affects 10-25% of patients in the US and Europe and 30-40% in Asia, reported Al-Jazeera.
Around 680 people from over 20 countries were included in the clinical trial. Half the patients took the treatment daily and the other half took a placebo. When compared with the placebo group, patients who took the pill showed a 51% reduction. After five years, 88% of the patients are still alive and 78% of the placebo group also survived.
Lung cancer is the form of cancer that causes most deaths and around 1.8 million people die of the disease every year.