Summary
New drug ivonescimab cut death risk 34% in lung cancer trial, outperforming standard immunotherapy plus chemo combination.
A new lung cancer drug just showed big promise in an important study. The drug is called ivonescimab, and it was made by a company called Akeso, working with a partner called Summit Therapeutics.
This drug is special because it attacks cancer in two ways at once. It targets a protein called PD-1, which helps cancer cells hide from a person’s immune system. It also targets a protein called VEGF, which helps cancer grow new blood vessels. By blocking both at the same time, doctors hope the drug can fight cancer better than treatments that only do one job.
In the study, called HARMONi-6, researchers tested the drug on people with a type of lung cancer called squamous non-small-cell lung cancer. This trial took place in China. Patients either got ivonescimab plus chemotherapy, or they got a different immune drug plus chemotherapy, which is the usual treatment.
The results were impressive. People who took ivonescimab plus chemotherapy lived about four months longer, on average, than people who got the standard treatment. Overall, the new drug cut the risk of dying by about a third.
This news matters because earlier studies mostly showed the drug could slow down tumor growth, called “progression-free survival.” That’s often not enough for U.S. regulators to approve a drug. Showing that patients actually lived longer is a much stronger result.
Still, some experts are cautious. This trial only included patients in China, and some people worry the drug might not work as well in other parts of the world. Investors have noticed too. Shares of Summit Therapeutics jumped hugely over the past two years on earlier hopeful results, but the stock has dropped recently as people wait to see if this success repeats globally.
