--- title: "Scientists Intrigued by Pill That Cuts Lung Cancer Deaths in Half" description: "In a development that scientists have reportedly called \"thrilling\" and \"unprecedented,\" a decade-long global study has shown that a once-daily pill reduces the risk of dying from lung cancer by over half. Taken after tumor-removal surgery, the drug, dubbed osimertinib, was shown in the study — published Monday in The New England Journal of Medicine […]" date: "2023-06-07" modified: "2023-06-07" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/scientists-pill-lung-cancer-deaths" categories: - "Cancer" - "Health & Medicine" - "Medical" tags: - "cancer" - "cancer treatments" - "health" - "lung cancer" --- # Scientists Intrigued by Pill That Cuts Lung Cancer Deaths in Half ![A decade-long global study has shown that a once-daily pill reduces the risk of dying from lung cancer by over half.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* In a development that scientists [have reportedly]() called "thrilling" and "unprecedented," a decade-long global study has shown that a once-daily pill reduces the risk of dying from lung cancer by over half. Taken after tumor-removal surgery, the drug, known as osimertinib, was shown in the study — [published Monday in *The New England Journal of Medicine*]() — to lessen the risk of patient death by *51 percent* worldwide. As it probably goes without saying, that's a huge deal — and researchers certainly aren't taking it lightly. "Thirty years ago, there was nothing we could do for these patients," Roy Herbst, the deputy director of Yale Cancer Center and lead author of the study, told *The* *Guardian*. "Now we have this potent drug." "Fifty percent is a big deal in any disease," he added, "but certainly in a disease like lung cancer, which has typically been very resistant to therapies." To study the potential impacts of the drug, researchers enrolled roughly 682 non-small cell lung cancer patients — non-small cell cancer being the most common form of the lung disease — from 26 countries worldwide, all aged between 30 and 86 years old. Of those hundreds of patients, 339 randomly received the AstraZeneca-made osimertinib pill, while 343 were given a placebo. Ultimately, study results revealed that after five years, the non-placebo group observed a survival rate of 88 percent. That's a resounding success compared to the placebo group, which saw a markedly lower survival rate of 78 percent. "It is hard to convey how important this finding is and how long it's taken to get here," Nathan Pennell, an expert at the American Society of Clinical Oncology who was not involved with the study, told the *Guardian*. "This shows an unequivocal, highly significant improvement in survival." Importantly, as the *Guardian* notes, everyone in the trial had a mutated EGFR gene, a mutation present in roughly a quarter of lung cancer cases worldwide. It also tends to be present in lung cancer patients who have never or rarely smoked, and is also more common in women than men. And on that note, per the *Guardian,* about two-thirds of the lung cancer patients enrolled in the successful trial were women. But as the scientists emphasized to the *Guardian*, it's not yet standard practice for lung cancer patients to be tested for EGFR mutations. The study findings "further \[reinforce\] the need to identify these patients with available biomarkers at the time of diagnosis," Herbst told the newspaper, "and before treatment begins." "A five-year overall survival rate of 88 percent is incredibly positive news," Angela Terry, chair of the lung cancer charity EGFR Positive UK, told the *Guardian*. "Having access to a drug whose efficacy is proven and whose side-effects are tolerable means patients can be confident of and able to enjoy a good quality of life for longer." **More on cancer treatments:** [*Virus Modified to Kill Cancer Cells Appears to Have Saved a Patient's Life*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()