Many promising cancer developments came out of ASCO last week. Several of the most important studies showed improvements that would have been hard to imagine only a few years ago. For patients with certain forms of colon cancer, median survival doubled. In lung cancer, researchers saw results where a majority of patients were still free from disease progression after five years. At the same time, precision medicine and targeted therapies continue to push the boundaries in breast cancer and prostate cancer.
Some of the most noted results
- Colon cancer (BRAF-mutated): the BREAKWATER study showed that a new combination treatment doubled median survival, from 15.1 to 30.3 months.
- Lung cancer (ALK-positive): five years after starting treatment, about 60% of patients on lorlatinib still had no disease progression, compared with only 8% on the previous standard treatment.
- Lung cancer (EGFR-positive): the combination of amivantamab and lazertinib reduced the risk of death by about 25% compared with the previous best available treatment.
- Breast cancer (PIK3CA-mutated): gedatolisib met its primary survival endpoint and showed better results than today's targeted standard treatment.
- Prostate cancer (high-risk): new data on apalutamide before surgery was presented as one of the congress's most noted studies.
- Breast cancer (ER-positive): the SERENA-6 study is investigating whether blood tests can identify resistance early and enable a change of treatment before the disease starts to grow.
Progress is now rapid. Many diagnoses that only five or ten years ago had very limited treatment options are today met with entirely new therapies and considerably better prognoses. Early detection, of course, also improves the odds.
