A hotly debated lung cancer drug cut the risk of death by 34% in a late-stage trial in China
Last edited Sun May 31, 2026, 03:23 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: CNBC
Published Sun, May 31 2026 8:00 AM EDT
Angelica Peebles
An experimental lung cancer drug from Akeso and Summit Therapeutics
reduced the risk of death by 34% in a closely watched late-stage trial, according to results released Sunday.
When combined with chemotherapy, the drug kept people with squamous non-small-cell lung cancer alive for a median of four months longer than the standard combination of immunotherapy and chemotherapy, a result that was statistically significant, according to an abstract released Sunday ahead of a presentation at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting. The Phase 3 trial was conducted in China, and a global Phase 3 study is ongoing.
“The fact that it shows an improvement in overall survival in a difficult-to-treat patient population is very encouraging,” said Dr. Suresh Ramalingam, executive director of the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University. “I’m mindful of the fact that this trial was done exclusively in China, and that brings up the question of how do these data apply to patient populations outside of China, and that will require future investigations.”
Called ivonescimab, the bispecific antibody targets PD-1 — similar to Merck’s best-selling drug Keytruda —and VEGF — similar to Roche’s Avastin. It’s become the subject of intense debate in the oncology and investment communities. Some say ivonescimab and similar drugs could be a successor to Merck’s wildly successful cancer drug Keytruda, while others warn it’ll disappoint like other once-promising ideas such as drugs targeting TIGIT, an immune receptor.
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Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/31/asco-summit-akeso-ivonescimab-improves-survival-in-harmoni-6-trial.html
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