HQ Team
September 13, 2026: British pharmaceutical company GSK Plc said a new experimental cancer drug helped patients with a difficult-to-treat type of lung cancer live longer than those who received an existing treatment, according to a company statement.
The drug, called risvutatug rezetecan (Ris-Rez), reduced the risk of death by 54% compared with the cancer drug topotecan in an end-stage clinical trial conducted in China.
Patients who received Ris-Rez lived for a median of 18.5 months, compared with 10.3 months for patients who received topotecan.
The study involved 461 patients with small cell lung cancer whose cancer had returned or continued to grow after their first treatment. The results were presented at the 2026 World Conference on Lung Cancer in Seoul, South Korea.
Aggressive
Small cell lung cancer is an aggressive form of lung cancer that can grow and spread quickly. It accounts for about 10% to 15% of lung cancer cases worldwide. A major challenge is that the cancer often returns after the first treatment. When this happens, doctors have fewer treatment options available.
“These results add to the growing body of evidence for Ris-Rez and mark an important step forward for our lung cancer portfolio,” said Hesham Abdullah, senior vice-president, Global Head of Oncology, R&D, of GSK.
“The significant improvement in survival observed in this study, together with an encouraging safety profile, provides further momentum for GSK’s global development of Ris-Rez across later-line and earlier treatment settings for small cell lung cancer.”
The study found that patients taking Ris-Rez not only lived longer but also had better results on several other outcomes.
Tumour shrinks
The cancer stopped growing or took longer to grow in patients receiving Ris-Rez. Their median progression-free survival was 7.2 months, compared with 3 months for those receiving topotecan.
About 58% of patients receiving Ris-Rez saw their tumours shrink, compared with about 13% of patients receiving topotecan.
The drug also caused fewer severe treatment-related side effects. Serious side effects occurred in about 61% of patients receiving Ris-Rez, compared with 78% of those receiving topotecan.
Some of the more serious side effects linked to Ris-Rez included decreases in certain blood cells, such as white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets. GSK said these side effects are considered manageable.
Ris-Rez is still an experimental drug, meaning it has not yet become a standard treatment for this cancer.
‘Important advance’
GSK has rights to develop and sell Ris-Rez outside mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. The company is studying the drug in other clinical trials involving lung cancer, prostate cancer and other types of cancer.
GSK said a major Phase III trial testing Ris-Rez in patients with advanced small cell lung cancer is also underway, with results expected next year.
“Relapsed small cell lung cancer remains one of the most challenging cancers to treat, with few therapies delivering meaningful improvements in survival once the disease returns,” said Jie Wang, MD, Chair, Medical Oncology Department, National Cancer Center, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Principal Investigator of the trial.
During the trial, “patients receiving Ris-Rez lived substantially longer while experiencing lower rates of severe treatment-related side effects. These findings suggest Ris-Rez could represent an important advance for patients,” he said.
