NSCLC accounts for about 85% of all lung cancer cases, which occur when abnormal cells form and multiply in lung tissues.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Johnson & Johnson’s chemotherapy-free combination treatment for a type of non-small cell lung cancer, or NSCL, giving patients access to a therapy that could replace the current standard of care.
The approval now allows the cancer drug Rybrevant, from a US multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company based in New Jersey, to be used in combination with an older drug, lazertinib, as a first-line treatment for patients with NSCLC who have a mutated form of a gene called epidermal growth factor receptor, or EGFR, a protein in cells that helps them grow. However, a mutation in the EGFR gene causes it to grow too much, leading to cancer.
Why did the FDA approve the Rybrevant combination?
NSCLC is a common type of lung cancer, accounting for about 85 percent of all lung cancer cases, and occurs when abnormal cells form and multiply in lung tissues. According to the American Lung Association, the EGFR mutation occurs in 10-15 percent of cases in the U.S. The FDA says its decision is based on data from a late-stage study, in which the combination with Rybrevant increased the length of time patients lived without their disease getting worse, compared with AstraZeneca’s blockbuster drug Tagrisso.
Tagrisso is used as adjuvant therapy after tumor resection in adult patients with NSCLC, whose tumors show epidermal growth, followed by chemotherapy.
What is NSCLC cancer?
According to experts, non-small cell lung cancer usually grows and spreads more slowly than small cell lung cancer. There are three common types:
- Adenocarcinomas are often found in the outer part of the lung.
- Squamous cell carcinomas are usually found in the center of the lung, next to an air tube, or bronchus.
- Large cell carcinomas can appear anywhere in the lung.
What causes NSCLC cancer??
Lung cancer is the deadliest type of cancer for both men and women. More people die each year from lung cancer than from breast, colon, and prostate cancer combined. Lung cancer is most common in older adults and is rare in people under age 45.
Doctors say smoking causes most cases (about 80 percent) of non-small cell lung cancer, and your risk depends largely on how many cigarettes you smoke each day and how long you’ve been smoking. Being exposed to other people’s smoke, also known as secondhand smoke, also increases your risk of lung cancer. Your risk decreases over time after you quit smoking.
In addition, constant exposure to high levels of air pollution and drinking water with a high level of arsenic can increase the risk of lung cancer. A history of radiation therapy to the lungs can also increase the risk.
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