HQ Team
July 21, 2025: AstraZeneca Plc’s therapy for a certain type of advanced lung cancer, in combination with chemotherapy, helped patients live longer, company data from an end-stage study reveals.
Osimertinib, branded as Tagrisso, was used to treat patients with a specific mutation (EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer, NSCLC), and final results showed that the combination therapy led to a statistically significant improvement in overall survival, compared to Tagrisso alone as a first-line treatment.
The therapy for Stage IIIB-IIIC or metastatic Stage IV patients with “locally advanced or metastatic epidermal growth factor receptor-mutated (EGFR-mutated) non-small cell lung cancer” resulted in a “statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement,” according to a statement.
Tagrisso in combination with chemotherapy extended the time patients lived without their cancer worsening (progression-free survival) by nearly nine months compared to Tagrisso alone, representing the “longest median progression-free survival” reported for this patient group, the company stated.
The trial included 557 patients across more than 20 countries.
Advanced lung cancer
Stage IIIB and IIIC NSCLC represent locally advanced lung cancers. These tumours have spread extensively to lymph nodes near the other lung, in the neck, or have grown into important structures in the chest, which typically makes them unresectable by surgery.
Stage IV NSCLC is metastatic, meaning the cancer has spread to distant parts of the body beyond the lungs. EGFRm indicates that the NSCLC has mutations in the EGFR gene. These mutations make cancer cells susceptible to targeted therapies with EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors, such as osimertinib.
During the global clinical trial, patients were treated with Tagrisso oral tablets, pemetrexed chemotherapy, cisplatin or carboplatin every three weeks for four cycles. They then continued with Tagrisso and pemetrexed every three weeks.
Premetrexed is a chemotherapy drug that works by inhibiting the growth of DNA and RNA in cancer cells, effectively preventing them from multiplying. It’s often used in combination with other chemotherapy drugs or as a maintenance treatment after initial chemotherapy.
‘Meaningful combination’
The median overall survival for patients on the combination treatment had not yet been reached, indicating a. strong survival benefit, versus 36.7 months for Tagrisso alone, with a 25% reduction in risk of death.
The combination also improved other important outcomes after cancer progression, such as time to next treatments, showing consistent benefit throughout the disease.
“When treating lung cancer, the aim is to both prolong survival and improve the patient experience, especially in 1st-line where treatment duration can be long and many patients remain active,” said Pasi A. Jänne, MD, principal investigator for the FLAURA2 trial.
“These positive results support osimertinib, either as monotherapy or in combination with chemotherapy, as standard of care for patients with 1st-line advanced EGFR-mutated lung cancer and reinforce the meaningful benefit of the combination in the current clinical setting,” he said.
Susan Galbraith, Executive Vice President, Oncology Haematology R&D, AstraZeneca, said: “With its strong survival benefit and tolerable safety profile, this combination has the potential to help patients live longer while maintaining their quality of life on treatment.”
