A new lung cancer pill helped patients live longer in a Phase 3 trial

A pill called divarasib helped people with one specific kind of lung cancer live longer than patients on currently approved drugs for the same mutation, MD Anderson Cancer Center reported from a Phase 3 trial. The Krascendo 1 study enrolled 338 patients. Results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology meeting in 2026. Against those existing KRAS G12C drugs, divarasib cut the risk of death by 44 percent. Median survival was 17.7 months, compared with 12.0 months. Severe side effects were less common, 25 percent versus 35 percent.

The finding is for KRAS G12C-mutated lung cancer, not for lung cancer in general. A median is the middle of a group, not a promise for any one person. The trial shows a survival difference and a lower rate of severe side effects against drugs already in use. It does not, by itself, mean every oncologist can write a prescription for divarasib tomorrow, and it does not say the cancer is cured.