Roche's divarasib cuts death risk by 44% in KRAS lung cancer trial

Roche’s investigational cancer drug divarasib cut the risk of death by 44% compared with current KRAS G12C treatments in people with previously treated KRAS G12C-mutated lung cancer, according to phase 3 results announced on Sunday.

In the Krascendo 1 trial, patients given divarasib lived a median of 17.7 months, against 12.0 months for those given the first-generation KRAS G12C inhibitors sotorasib or adagrasib — a hazard ratio for death of 0.56, Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, said (https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261025902454/en/Genentechs-Divarasib-Demonstrated-Best-in-Class-Efficacy-Advancing-the-Standard-of-Care-in-Previously-Treated-KRAS-G12C-mutated-Lung-Cancer).

The trial also showed median progression-free survival of 9.8 months with divarasib against 5.7 months with the control treatment — a 42% lower risk of disease progression or death — at a median follow-up of 14.3 months, Cancer Network reported (https://www.cancernetwork.com/view/divarasib-improves-survival-vs-sotorasib-or-adagrasib-in-kras-g12c-nsclc).

The data were presented as a late-breaking abstract during a Presidential Symposium at the 2026 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress and simultaneously published in The New England Journal of Medicine. Presenter Ferdinandos Skoulidis of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center said it was the first and only global randomised phase 3 trial comparing a next-generation KRAS G12C inhibitor head-to-head with the first-generation drugs.

No new safety findings were observed, and the most common treatment-related side effects were mainly low grade and manageable, Genentech said. Divarasib remains investigational: Roche said it is working with health authorities to bring the treatment to patients, and chief medical officer Levi Garraway said the results showed its potential to become a new standard of care.