On May 16, 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new drug to treat lung cancer. This is a new hope for patients who are not responding to all other existing treatment options.

Tarlatamab (Imdelltra) is the new approved drug to treat deadly lung cancer. It is available in injection form.

Amgen, an American multinational biopharmaceutical company, invented this breakthrough medicine.

In a company press release, the executive vice president of research and development and chief scientific officer at drug maker Amgen, Dr. Jay Bradner, said, “The FDA's approval of Imdelltra marks a pivotal moment for patients battling extensive-stage small cell lung cancer. Imdelltra offers these patients who are in urgent need of new innovative therapies hope, and we're proud to deliver this long-awaited effective treatment to them."

The authorities have not yet indicated when this medicine will be available in the market.

Lung cancer is mainly of two types: non-small-cell lung cancer and small-cell lung cancer. This drug is formulated to treat extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer.

Usually, when a patient with small cell lung cancer is diagnosed, the cancer already spread exceeding the lungs, and at this stage, with standard treatment, it is not possible to cure it.

Clinical trial of this drug shows that 40% of patients responded to Tarlatamab, and this drug tripled the life expectancy with an average extension of 14 months. It is a new hope for late-stage cancer.

But besides its effectiveness, the FDA mentioned that a major side effect of this drug is cytokine release syndrome. It is like your immune system will respond more aggressively than it should when there is any infection or certain drug intake in the body. It causes some symptoms like nausea, vomiting, fever, rash, body aches, a rapid heartbeat, and low blood pressure, which need quick treatment.