Adding a second pill after the first one stops working well
Original title: Efficacy and safety of osimertinib combined with anlotinib in EGFR-mutant non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer with gradual progression after first-line osimertinib therapy: a single-center retrospective cohort study.
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.
Doctors only looked back at records of people who took these pills, so nothing is proven yet.
The short version
Doctors looked back at 52 people with lung cancer who added a second pill to the one they were already taking.
What was studied. This was a look back at records at one hospital in China. It covered 52 people with lung cancer that had a gene change called EGFR. Their cancer was growing slowly again after a drug called osimertinib. They stayed on that drug and added a pill called anlotinib. 16 of the 52 had cancer that had spread to the brain.
What they found. Tumors got smaller in 4 of 52 people. In 45 of 52, the cancer shrank or stayed steady for a time. Serious side effects happened in 5 of 52 people. The most common side effect was loose stools, in 22 of 52.
What this means, and what it doesn't
What it could mean: Some people may get more time before the cancer starts growing again. Half the group went about 9.9 months before that happened. Only a few tumors actually shrank. If you take osimertinib, you can ask your doctor about this pill pairing.
What it doesn't mean: This does not show that the two pills together work better than other choices. Doctors only read old records from one hospital. There was no comparison group, so the numbers can be off. This is not a cure and not standard care yet. The study looked at lung cancer, not at tumors that start in the brain.
Source: PubMed, September 23, 2026 · Read the original
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