Preventing Postoperative Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Recurrence with Durvalumab
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Reviewed & Translated by Dat Tien Nguyen, B.A, ScM.
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Posted on November 27th, 2023
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In almost 30% of all non-small-cell lung cancer cases, the disease can be treated by surgically removing the tumor. However, disease recurrence happened in about half of these patients within 5 years of resection. Concurrent usage of chemotherapy had only improved the five-year survival rate by 5%. As a result, many attempts had been made to figure out a better solution, including a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine that assessed the usage of Durvalumab.
The study, funded by the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, included 802 patients who had recently been diagnosed with non-small-cell lung cancer. Histology and cytology analysis showed that these tumors are between stage IIA and IIIB, and the patients have been scheduled for either lobectomy, sleeve resection, or bilobectomy. These patients were randomly assigned to be treated with either placebo or 1500 mg of Durvalumab. The treatment was administered intravenously every 3 weeks before surgery, and every 4 weeks after surgery for up to 12 cycles. The researchers concluded that Durvalumab reduced the risk of disease progression and death by 32%; in addition, Durvalumab led to 13% more cases of complete removal of tumor after 12 months. More optimistically, the frequency of severe adverse events was similar between those who were treated with placebo and Durvalumab.
The study, funded by the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, included 802 patients who had recently been diagnosed with non-small-cell lung cancer. Histology and cytology analysis showed that these tumors are between stage IIA and IIIB, and the patients have been scheduled for either lobectomy, sleeve resection, or bilobectomy. These patients were randomly assigned to be treated with either placebo or 1500 mg of Durvalumab. The treatment was administered intravenously every 3 weeks before surgery, and every 4 weeks after surgery for up to 12 cycles. The researchers concluded that Durvalumab reduced the risk of disease progression and death by 32%; in addition, Durvalumab led to 13% more cases of complete removal of tumor after 12 months. More optimistically, the frequency of severe adverse events was similar between those who were treated with placebo and Durvalumab.