Pfizer’s Lorbrena shows historic seven-year survival advantage in lung cancer trial

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) announced unprecedented seven-year follow-up results from its Phase 3 CROWN trial, revealing that its oncology drug Lorbrena significantly extended progression-free survival in patients with a specific, aggressive form of lung cancer.

The newly released data represents what the New York-based pharmaceutical giant states is the longest observed progression-free survival reported to date in advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

According to the updated analysis presented today at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, patients treated with first-line Lorbrena had a 55% likelihood of remaining alive without disease progression after seven years.

In comparison, patients treated with the older comparative therapy, Xalkori, showed just a 3% likelihood of progression-free survival over the same period.

The investigator-assessed median progression-free survival has still not been reached for the Lorbrena treatment group, indicating an 81% reduction in the risk of disease progression or death.

The results highlight the drug’s targeted design, which was specifically engineered by Pfizer to penetrate the blood-brain barrier and counter tumor mutations that typically drive resistance to other treatments.

Brain metastases represent a critical threat in anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive NSCLC, historically affecting 25% to 40% of patients within two years of their initial diagnosis and severely impacting cognitive function.

The seven-year follow-up data demonstrated that Lorbrena reduced the risk of developing intracranial progression by 94%, with no new brain metastasis events reported after the first 30 months of therapy.

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related mortality globally, with nearly 230,000 new cases projected in the U.S. alone for 2026.

Non-small cell lung cancer accounts for up to 80% of these diagnoses, and ALK-positive mutations are present in roughly 3% to 5% of cases.

At the time of this latest analysis, 44% of patients in the CROWN trial were still actively receiving Lorbrena treatment, compared to a mere 3% remaining on Xalkori.

The full findings from the study were simultaneously published in the medical journal Annals of Oncology.