Lung Cancer Health Center

Lung Cancer Drug Zaps Tumor Blood Vessels

Lung Cancer Drug: Second Opinion

The results of the vadimezan study represent "a considerable improvement in survival," says Paul A. Bunn Jr., MD, professor of medicine, James Dudley Chair in Cancer Research at the University of Colorado, Denver, and executive director of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer.

"Almost every year now, we are getting [new] drugs that improve survival in lung cancer patients." However, he adds, "we have a long way to go."

In the U.S., about 219,000 new cases of lung cancer were expected to be diagnosed in 2009, with 159,000 expected deaths from the disease, according to American Cancer Society estimates. Survival rates depend on the stage, with the five-year survival rate for stage IV non-small-cell lung cancer just 1%, according to the society.