A new treatment option may be on the horizon for people with an aggressive form of lung cancer. A phase 3 clinical trial found that adding the immunotherapy drug tislelizumab to standard chemotherapy helped patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer live longer.
The study included over 450 adults who had not been treated before. Half received tislelizumab plus chemo, while the other half got a placebo plus chemo. After about three years of follow-up, those on tislelizumab lived a median of 15.5 months, compared to 13.5 months in the placebo group. That's a 2-month improvement, with a 22% lower risk of death.
The most common side effects were hair loss, anemia, and low white blood cell counts, which were similar between groups. The researchers say the drug was tolerable with no new safety concerns. However, these results come from a single trial, and more research may be needed to confirm the benefit in a broader population.