Targeted therapy could turn advanced lung cancer into chronic illness: CUHK study

A Hong Kong co-led global study has found that a targeted therapy can keep more than half of advanced lung cancer patients alive without disease progression for at least seven years, marking a step towards turning the deadly illness into a chronic condition.

Researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong on Wednesday released the findings of their study, which looked into the efficacy of the third-generation targeted therapy lorlatinib on patients with advanced lung cancer.

The study followed 296 previously untreated patients with advanced ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer – a type of lung cancer caused by an abnormal rearrangement of the anaplastic lymphoma kinase gene – for seven years from 2019 to 2025. The patients came from multiple regions, such as Hong Kong, mainland China, the United States and Europe.

Among them, 149 patients were given lorlatinib while the remaining 147 received the first-generation agent crizotinib as the control group.

Results showed that 55 per cent of those taking lorlatinib as a first-line treatment experienced no disease progression at seven years, while a rate of only 3 per cent was recorded among those receiving crizotinib.

“More than half of the people started taking the medication and seven years later they were still taking it, leading normal lives,” said Professor Tony Mok Shu-kam, chairman of the university’s department of clinical oncology, who is one of the study’s lead researchers.

“This made them seem somewhat like people with diabetes or high blood pressure because they could control their condition with medication and live normal lives. The shadow of death was practically non-existent at this point.”