Perioperative atezolizumab + chemotherapy more than doubles event-free survival in resectable stage II–IIIB NSCLC

by International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer

edited by Sadie Harley, reviewed by Andrew Zinin

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Patients with resectable stage II–IIIB non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with perioperative atezolizumab plus platinum-based chemotherapy experienced a median event-free survival of 62.8 months compared with 34.9 months for patients receiving chemotherapy alone, according to final results from the Phase III IMpower030 trial.

These results were presented today at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) 2026 World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) in Seoul, Republic of Korea.

The study also demonstrated substantially higher pathological response rates with the atezolizumab regimen. Pathological complete response rates reached 29.6% versus 8.5%, while major pathological response rates were 53.6% versus 24.4% compared with placebo plus chemotherapy.

Although the trial did not meet its predefined threshold for statistical significance, investigators reported clinically meaningful improvements across multiple efficacy endpoints, including independent review facility-assessed event-free survival, investigator-assessed event-free survival, disease-free survival and overall survival.

Surgical cancellation rates remained low and similar between treatment groups, and no new safety signals were identified. Adverse events occurred more frequently during neoadjuvant therapy than during the adjuvant phase in both treatment arms.

"These long-term findings demonstrate clinically meaningful improvements across several important outcomes and further support the role of perioperative immunotherapy for patients with resectable NSCLC," said Dr. Benjamin Solomon of Peter MacCallum Cancer Center in Melbourne, Australia, the presenting author.

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Oncology Provided by International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer Who's behind this story?

Sadie Harley

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Citation: Perioperative atezolizumab + chemotherapy more than doubles event-free survival in resectable stage II–IIIB NSCLC (2026, September 12) retrieved 12 September 2026 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-perioperative-atezolizumab-chemotherapy-event-free.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.