A real world look at tarlatamab for small cell cancers
Original title: Tarlatamab in Small Cell Lung Cancer and Extrapulmonary Small Cell Carcinoma: A Single-Centre Retrospective Cohort Study of Routine-Practice Outcomes.
How far along is this research?
- Lab cells
- Animals
- Review
- Tested in people
This was tested in people. That is the most reliable kind of research we share.
This drug is already given as standard care for small cell lung cancer.
The short version
In everyday care, tarlatamab helped some people with small cell lung cancer, but it did not help the people whose cancer started outside the lung.
What was studied. Doctors at one hospital looked back at records for 24 adults with advanced small cell cancer. 19 had small cell lung cancer and 5 had small cell cancer that started outside the lung. All had already had other treatments, and all were given the drug tarlatamab as standard care.
What they found. Tumors shrank in 25.0% of all 24 patients. In the lung cancer group it was 31.6%. All 5 patients whose cancer started outside the lung got worse. 38% of patients had cancer spread to the brain at the start, and tumors shrank in 33.3% of them. An immune reaction called CRS happened in 58% of patients, and a nerve and thinking reaction called ICANS in 29%. Severe side effects were rare.
What this means, and what it doesn't
What it could mean: If you have small cell lung cancer that came back, this drug may shrink the tumor for a while. Some people saw their tumors shrink even when the cancer had spread to the brain. Side effects were common in this group, but most were not severe.
What it doesn't mean: This was a small look back at old records at one hospital. It was not a planned trial, so it cannot prove what the drug does. It does not mean the drug works for small cell cancer that starts outside the lung. With only 5 such patients, it is far too early to say. These results are not a promise for any one person, and this is not a cure.
Source: PubMed, September 22, 2026 · Read the original
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