Amgen cancer drug outperforms chemotherapy in study

Amgen’s new cancer drug, Lumakras, achieved “significantly superior” results compared to the chemotherapy docetaxel in a phase 3 study. 

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Lumakras was approved by the FDA in May 2021 and was the first treatment for adult patients with non-small cell lung cancer with any KRAS mutation, according to a Sept. 12 news release from Amgen. In the study of 345 patients, people who took Lumakras went 5.6 months without their cancer progressing while people who took docetaxel went 4.5 months. 

One-fourth of Lumakras patients lived for at least 1 year without their cancer getting worse. The same was true for 10 percent of chemotherapy patients. 

The biopharmaceutical company said Lumakras showed a significantly higher overall response rate, an improved disease control rate and a faster and longer response compared to docetaxel. 

Amgen could not prove that patients who took Lumakras lived longer, however, as this endpoint was not statistically significant. 

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