J&J says lung most cancers medicine Rybrevant and Lazcluze lengthen survival

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Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday said its lung cancer treatment keeps people alive at least a year longer AstraZenecaTagrisso is the drug of choice against a certain type of lung cancer.

J&J said in a statement that its drugs – Rybrevant and Lazcluze – showed a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in survival compared to Tagrisso in a pivotal study. The company expects the benefits to last at least a year and possibly longer, J&J executives said in an interview. The company plans to present the full results at a medical meeting later this year.

“This is an absolute dynamite,” said Biljana Naumovic, president of U.S. Solid Tumor Oncology at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine. “People were looking for an overall survival difference.”

J&J is seeking to replace AstraZeneca's blockbuster Tagrisso, a once-daily pill that has transformed treatment for non-small cell lung cancer with EGFR mutations and extended median survival to about three years. These genetic errors cause cancer cells to multiply. According to the American Lung Association, they account for between 10 and 15% of lung cancer cases in the United States.

J&J executives hailed the finding as a breakthrough that should change how this type of lung cancer is treated. However, there is no guarantee that doctors and patients will all switch to Rybrevant and Lazcluze because the therapy has more side effects and requires infusions every few weeks, Dr. Stephen Liu, director of thoracic oncology and chief of developmental therapies at the Georgetown University Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.

“I think the announcement that this will make people live longer will require a tougher look,” Liu said.

He wants to find out who benefited the most so he can treat those patients more aggressively while sparing those who are less likely to have a reaction. Rybrevant and Lazcluze can cause people to develop a rash and cause their fingernails to chip.

Like Tagrisso, J&J's therapy blocks the EGFR protein to prevent cancer cells from growing. It also targets MET, a common signaling pathway that cancer uses to develop resistance to drugs.

J&J predicts annual sales of Rybrevant and Lazcluze could exceed $5 billion. Tagrisso brought AstraZeneca about $6 billion in 2023.