IASLC 2026 World Conference on Lung Cancer (#WCLC26) | 2026 | iPharmaCenter

Johnson & Johnson Reports Lower Early Treatment Burden With Subcutaneous Amivantamab Regimen in EGFR-Mutated Lung Cancer

Johnson & Johnson has presented new Phase 2b findings suggesting that a subcutaneous version of its amivantamab-based first-line regimen may reduce several treatment-related challenges for people with advanced EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer. The COPERNICUS study evaluated subcutaneous amivantamab with lazertinib alongside preventive anticoagulation and a structured skin-care approach, with the goal of making a regimen associated with a survival advantage easier to manage in routine practice.

What the Study Found

The analysis included 214 patients in the United States with newly treated advanced non-small cell lung cancer carrying common EGFR mutations. After a median follow-up of 8.3 months, most adverse events were mild or moderate, classified as Grade 1 or Grade 2. Investigators did not report any new safety signals.

Rash occurred in 25 percent of participants. Administration-related reactions were reported in 3 percent, and venous thromboembolism was also reported in 3 percent. No patient stopped treatment because of an administration-related reaction. Discontinuation attributed to rash or venous thromboembolism occurred in approximately 1 percent of patients for each event type.

Overall, 8 percent of patients discontinued the regimen because of any adverse event. Johnson & Johnson reported that fewer than 1 percent of patients discontinued due to treatment-related events at one year, reflecting continued treatment exposure in most of the study population.

Eight-Year ADAURA Update Shows Osimertinib Continuing to Extend Survival After Surgery in EGFR-Mutated Lung Cancer

AstraZeneca's osimertinib has maintained a substantial survival advantage nearly a decade after patients with early EGFR-mutated lung cancer underwent surgery. Updated findings from the Phase 3 ADAURA trial show that the targeted treatment continued to lower the risk of death compared with placebo, adding long-term evidence to the case for using it soon after complete tumor removal rather than waiting for the disease to return.

ADAURA enrolled patients with completely resected stage IB, II, or IIIA non-small cell lung cancer whose tumors contained an EGFR mutation. Participants were assigned to receive either daily osimertinib or placebo for three years after surgery, then followed over the longer term to determine whether early treatment translated into a lasting survival benefit.

Survival Advantage at Eight Years

In the main stage II to IIIA population, osimertinib reduced the risk of death by 47 percent compared with placebo. At the eight-year mark, an estimated 74 percent of patients who received osimertinib were still alive, compared with 58 percent of those assigned to placebo.

The benefit was similarly strong across the full stage IB to IIIA population. Osimertinib lowered the risk of death by 48 percent.

Understanding Osimertinib

Osimertinib is an oral, third-generation EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor that irreversibly blocks signaling from mutant EGFR proteins. It was engineered to inhibit both common activating EGFR mutations and the T790M resistance mutation that can emerge during treatment with earlier-generation EGFR inhibitors.

Enhertu Becomes First HER2-Targeted Therapy to Beat Standard Care in Frontline Lung Cancer, Extending Time Without Progression by Six Months

AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo have announced positive results from a late-stage trial showing that Enhertu can significantly delay disease worsening compared with current standard treatment in patients with a specific genetic subtype of advanced lung cancer.

The Trial Design

The DESTINY-Lung04 study enrolled 454 adults with unresectable, locally advanced or metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer harboring activating mutations in the HER2 gene, specifically in exon 19 or exon 20. Patients were randomized to receive either Enhertu at a dose of 5.4 milligrams per kilogram once every three weeks or standard of care consisting of platinum-pemetrexed doublet chemotherapy plus pembrolizumab, the current global standard for first-line treatment in this setting.

The trial's primary endpoint was progression-free survival as assessed by blinded independent central review,

What the Data Showed

Patients treated with Enhertu went a median of 14.3 months without their cancer progressing or dying, compared with 8.3 months for those receiving pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy. This six-month difference translates to a 37 percent reduction in the risk of disease progression or death with Enhertu.

Response Rates and Durability

Beyond delaying progression, Enhertu also induced tumor shrinkage in a higher proportion of patients. The objective response rate, which measures the percentage of patients whose tumors shrank by a predefined amount, was 70 percent with Enhertu versus 44.5 percent with pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy. Among patients who responded, the median duration of response was 13.4 months with Enhertu compared with 9.7 months for the chemoimmunotherapy arm.

The Overall Survival Question

Median overall survival was 29.3 months with Enhertu versus 33.1 months with pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy.

Enhertu is an antibody-drug conjugate that combines a HER2-targeting antibody with a cytotoxic chemotherapy payload. The antibody delivers the drug directly to cancer cells expressing HER2, where the payload is released to kill the tumor from within. This design allows for more precise targeting compared with traditional chemotherapy while avoiding some of the limitations of small molecule HER2 inhibitors, which have shown limited activity in lung cancer.