Lung cancer combination nearly doubles time without progression in first-line trial
Editorial illustration — Press Pass USAA first-line, all-oral combination for a hard-to-treat form of lung cancer nearly doubled the time patients lived without their disease progressing, according to phase 3 results presented Monday at the ESMO Congress in Madrid.
The SANOVO trial enrolled 326 previously untreated patients in China with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer carrying EGFR mutations and MET overexpression. Adding savolitinib (ORPATHYS) to osimertinib (TAGRISSO) cut the risk of progression or death by 44% compared with osimertinib alone, with median progression-free survival of 24.9 months versus 13.8 months.
In patients with high MET overexpression, the benefit was larger still: a 55% risk reduction, with median progression-free survival of 24.8 months versus 11.1 months. Overall survival also favored the combination, at a median of 44.5 months versus 34.9 months, with an estimated 67.4% of combination patients alive at three years compared with 47.4% on osimertinib alone.
Lead investigator Professor Yi-Long Wu of Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital called the results potentially practice-changing, saying they strengthen the case for testing for MET alterations at diagnosis. The safety profile was described as manageable, with treatment stopped for side effects in 14.8% of combination patients. HUTCHMED said it plans to seek a supplemental approval in China for this first-line setting; the combination is not described as approved for this use in the United States.
Sources: HUTCHMED/GlobeNewswire (Oct 26, 2026); ESMO Congress 2026 (abstract LBA69).
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