Pfizer drug extends life for people with rare form of lung cancer [Video]

A Pfizer lung cancer drug has been shown to greatly reduce tumor progression and improve survival outcomes for people in the advanced stages of a rare form of the disease, according to trial results published Friday.

Lorlatinib, which is already approved and available under the brand name Lorbrena in the United States, was tested in a clinical trial of hundreds of people with anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Roughly half received lorlatinib while the rest received crizotinib, an earlier generation drug.

After five years of follow-up, more than half of patients treated with lorlatinib did not see their cancer progress.

“We’re talking about patients with advanced metastatic disease — so this is actually a truly unprecedented finding,” Pfizer’s thoracic oncology strategy lead Despina Thomaidou told AFP.

Sixty percent of patients receiving lorlatinib, an oral one a day tablet, were alive without disease progression after five …