Many lung cancer patients now have access to a potentially life-saving medication.
Osimertinib, sold under the brand name Tagrisso, is available to patients with Stage 1B-3A lung cancer who have a certain genetic mutation and have had surgery to remove cancerous tumors.
Among those patients, Tagrisso was shown to reduce the five-year risk of recurrent cancer by up to 73% and the risk of death by up to 51%, according to research published in The New England Journal of Medicine over the summer.

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"In the world of oncology, that is earth-shattering," Dr. Faiz Y. Bhora, chief of thoracic surgery and central region chair of surgery at Hackensack Meridian Health in New Jersey, told Fox News Digital.
"In the past, medical oncologists were happy with 5% or 10% — and now we're talking about in excess of 50% improvement in survival."
Bhora, who has prescribed the medication to several of his lung cancer patients, spoke about the "groundbreaking" results he's seen in his own practice.
"We're truly in the era of personalized medicine," Bhora also told Fox News Digital. "We now have a lot of targeted therapies that work well for patients who have mutations in their tumors."
For this particular medication, patients who have a genetic mutation called EGFRm — and who have already had surgery — are viable candidates for Tagrisso.
"The pill helps prevent recurrence once the tumor is removed with surgery for those with the genetic marker," he said.
Even patients with stage 4 lung cancer are also eligible for the pill if they have the EGFR mutation, even without having had surgery, the doctor noted.
"This is a very optimistic time for patients who used to have what was universally considered a fatal disease," Bhora said

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