Lung cancer drug combo shows durable responses in first-line trial presented at ESMO
Illustration: Press Pass USAA combination of sacituzumab tirumotecan (sac-TMT) and pembrolizumab showed a significant improvement in progression-free survival over chemotherapy plus pembrolizumab as a first-line treatment for advanced non-squamous lung cancer, according to phase 3 results presented October 25 at the ESMO Congress in Madrid and published simultaneously in The New England Journal of Medicine.
The OptiTROP-Lung06 trial enrolled patients with advanced non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer whose tumors had a PD-L1 tumor proportion score below 1% and no EGFR mutation or ALK rearrangement — a group with limited immunotherapy options.
As assessed by blinded independent central review, the objective response rate was 50.2% with sac-TMT plus pembrolizumab, compared with 47.3% with platinum-based doublet chemotherapy plus pembrolizumab. Responses lasted longer on the experimental combination: median duration of response was 13.6 months versus 6.8 months, a hazard ratio of 0.47.
At this interim progression-free survival analysis, overall survival showed a trend favoring the combination, with a hazard ratio of 0.58, though median overall survival had not been reached in either group — meaning the survival data are still maturing and should not be read as a final result.
The results were presented as an oral presentation by Professor Caicun Zhou of Shanghai East Hospital, Tongji University. Sac-TMT, also known as SKB264 or MK-2870, is an antibody-drug conjugate developed by Sichuan Kelun-Biotech.
Sources: Sichuan Kelun-Biotech, PR Newswire via Morningstar (Oct 25, 2026); The New England Journal of Medicine (OptiTROP-Lung06, published Oct 25, 2026).
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