Thanks to a new pill, many lung cancer patients may have access to life-saving medication. The pill, known as Osimertinib or Tagrisso, is now available for patients with Stage 1B-3A lung cancer with a certain genetic mutation and who have had their tumors removed.
Tagrisso has been shown to reduce the five-year risk of cancer returning by up to 73% and the risk of death by up to 51%. This has been called “earth-shattering” because usually, medical oncologists are happy with 5-10 percent but this pill raises it all the way up to 51%.
Patients who have the EGFRm genetic mutation and have already had surgery are good candidates for Tagrisso. Patients with stage 4 lung cancer who have the mutation without surgery are also eligible if they have the mutation. It has been found that around 25% of patients with lung cancer end up having this mutation. A patient can see if they have the mutation through a blood test or from a tissue sample extracted from the tumor.