The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved Johnson & Johnson's chemotherapy-free combination therapy for patients with a type of non-small cell lung cancer.
The approval allows the use of J&J's cancer drug, Rybrevant, in combination with an older drug, lazertinib, as a first-line treatment for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with a mutated form of a gene called EGFR.
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NSCLC is the most common type of lung cancer, and the EGFR mutation occurs in 10%-15% of the cases in the United States, according to data from the American Lung Association.
The Food and Drug Administration's decision is based on data from a late-stage study, in which J&J's Rybrevant combination increased the time patients lived without their disease worsening compared to AstraZeneca's blockbuster drug, Tagrisso.
Tagrisso is currently commonly used as a front-line treatment for NSCLC patients, followed by chemotherapy.