Four new treatments extend survival in lung, stomach and bile duct cancers, trials in Madrid show
Europe's biggest cancer congress, ESMO, heard four phase 3 trials at its main session in Madrid on Sunday in which a new treatment helped patients with advanced cancers live longer than the current standard. In the best case, median survival doubled from 5 to 10 months. These are advanced cancers, mostly with specific tumour changes: the drugs extend life, they do not cure.
For people with advanced stomach cancer whose earlier treatments have stopped working, survival is often counted in a few months. On Sunday in Madrid, a trial showed a new drug doubled median survival, from 5 to 10 months. It was one of four studies at the day’s main session of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) congress, and all four shared one result: the new treatment helped patients live longer than the current standard.
All four are phase 3 trials, the last step before seeking approval. All involve advanced cancers, and three target a specific tumour change. They extend life but do not cure, and regulators still have to review them.
Lung cancer: two mutations, two new options
In previously treated lung cancer with the KRAS G12C mutation, Roche’s divarasib reached a median survival of 17.7 months versus 12.0 months with first-generation drugs (Krascendo 1 trial). Presenter Ferdinandos Skoulidis called it “a new standard of care”.
In EGFR-mutant lung cancer that stops responding to osimertinib because of a second change (MET), adding savolitinib to osimertinib gave a median survival of 17.8 months versus 12.9 months with chemotherapy (SAFFRON trial).
Stomach and bile duct cancers
In gastric cancer carrying the CLDN18.2 protein, AstraZeneca’s sonesitatug vedotin raised median survival from 5 to 10 months in patients on their third or later line of treatment (CLARITY-Gastric01 trial). In bile duct cancer, adding ivonescimab to chemotherapy reached 14.9 months versus 12.1 months with today’s standard, durvalumab plus chemotherapy (HARMONi-GI1 trial).
What comes next
These are the figures presented at the congress; in SAFFRON, for instance, the data are not yet mature. The companies will now have to seek approval from regulators in Europe and the US, who will decide whether the treatments reach hospitals.
ESMO 2026 runs in Madrid until Tuesday 27 October.
Image: Happy News of the Day data card.
