Tracey L. Evans, MD of the University of Pennsylvania describes why Osimertinib is such an important breakthrough in EGFR mutated NSCLC. Osimertinib is a big breakthrough in the treatment of EGFR mutated non-small cell lung cancer. It was initially approved because of its efficacy in patients who developed resistance mutations to first and second generation EGFR TKIs, those were the patients who developed T790M mutation.
However, recently the FLAURA study showed an improvement of the PFS for patients who started with osimertinib as opposed to erlotinib or gefitinib. In addition, osimertinib has less wild type activity on EGFR. So, it is more tolerated than the early generation EGFR TKIs. It has also better penetration into the brain and so, it can do a better job in controlling or preventing brain metastases. Overall, this will be a better addition to the first-line treatment of EGFR mutated lung cancer.