There is much more hope for individuals affected by deadly cancer than before. Quitting smoking, screening, and the emergence of new drugs have changed the outlook for patients with lung cancer, which was once considered a death sentence.

Results released this weekend at a top cancer conference show that patients can now prevent the disease with preventive drugs for several months or years.

“Now we have patients who are being cured. We never thought they would be cured,” said Dr. Angela Dimichele, a medical oncologist at Penn Medicine. It has been found that Tagrisso is being used for some stage-3 lung cancer patients for almost three years longer than chemotherapy and radiation, according to a study published on Sunday.

Another study found that some patients with aggressive disease lived nearly two years longer with the company’s immunotherapy drug Imfinzi, which is the first progress in decades for that lung cancer subtype.

Another study presented by AstraZeneca at the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference in Chicago found that 60% of advanced patients taking Pfizer’s Lorviqua, a drug that targets a genetic mutation in their tumors, survived without disease progression five years after taking it.

Dr. David Spiegel, chief scientific officer of the Sarah Cannon Research Institute in Tennessee and lead investigator of the Imfinzi trial, said, “It compares to just 8% of patients on older drugs with the same target. These results are truly remarkable.”

“A really big step in lung cancer care.” Tagrisso, Imfinzi, and Lorviqua are all FDA-approved and in use. Lorviqua has kept Matt Hiznay’s stage-4 lung cancer away for nine years.

Hiznay, who has never smoked, was diagnosed with cancer at age 24 in 2011. “Hearing that, you would be really surprised,” he said. But there was some good news: his tumor tested positive for something called an ALK gene mutation, a rare discovery that qualified him for targeted drugs. His doctor congratulated him on being a mutant.

In 2021, Matt Hiznay and his wife, Allie, at his 10-year lung cancer survivorship party.

Hiznay tried many drugs and old therapies, including chemotherapy and radiation, each of which kept his disease at bay for some time. He joined a clinical trial for Lorviqua in 2015 and has been taking the drug since then. During his treatment, Hiznay earned a doctorate, got married, and became a father to a daughter.

Hiznay, who lives in Brecksville, Ohio, said, “The future became a bit easier to see again.” He takes care of himself every day, enjoying even when his little daughter wakes him up in the middle of the night. Over 234,000 Americans are diagnosed with lung cancer annually, and about 125,000 die from the disease. It is the leading cause of cancer deaths among men and women.

According to the American Lung Association, the survival rate has increased by about 20% in the past five years. Doctors say lung cancer responds better to new drugs like immunotherapy compared to other cancers because its tumors have many mutations, making them easier to find and attack, leading to a cure.

Tagrisso targets mutations of the EGFR gene, found in 15% of lung cancers in the United States. A study presented at the conference added Tagrisso after chemotherapy and radiation for patients with stage-3 disease who did not need surgery for the mutation.

Among these patients, the disease took more than three years to progress, but it spread within six months for those not on the drug. The results show how much lung cancer treatment has changed in the past decade.

Another study showed rare progress against small cell lung cancer. AstraZeneca’s Imfinzi increased survival to about 56 months compared to just 33 months with standard chemotherapy and radiation.

The trial included patients with small cell lung cancer whose disease had not spread much. “Seeing something where we’re measuring gains in months compared to years is a huge step in the right direction,” said Dr. Lauren Averett Byers, a lung cancer oncologist at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. The FDA approved Amgen’s Imdeltra for more advanced small cell lung cancer in May.

With the drug, the median survival was 14 months, with 40% of patients responding to treatment. About a quarter of lung cancer patients are alive five years after diagnosis. New treatments can help some patients with advanced disease live several months or years longer, but cancer often recurs and becomes incurable. Many lung cancers are detected late.

Dr. Pasi Janne, a lung cancer specialist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, said, “When you look at disease statistics, you have to be a bit humble.” “We still have a way to go.” Hiznay has been living with lung cancer for 13 years and has seen many patients die.

“Survivor guilt, cancer, it’s real, you have to live with it,” he said. Five years after his diagnosis, Hiznay rented a basement for a “one percent” party, named for his survival chance in 2011. He did it again ten years later. He plans to be there for 15 years. Hiznay has not lost hope.