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Roundtable highlights promising cancer drugs — zongertinib, dostarlimab — and potential cost implications
Summary
Speakers discussed data showing high response rates for zongertinib (HER2-mutant NSCLC) and complete pathological responses for dostarlimab in certain rectal cancers, and argued that some new therapies can reduce downstream health-care utilization and that biosimilars will lower prices.
During the conversation, participants highlighted several oncology products and their clinical implications.
Zongertinib: The speaker described zongertinib as a small-molecule inhibitor for a subset of HER2-mutant non–small-cell lung cancer and cited response rates ‘‘around 70%’’ of patients experiencing tumor shrinkage of 30% or more in clinical studies. The speaker said the median duration of response for that drug is "about a year," and noted efforts to increase durability.
Dostarlimab and KRAS inhibitor: The speaker also discussed dostarlimab data in certain mismatch repair–deficient rectal tumors, reporting complete pathologic responses in some patients without the need for chemotherapy, radiation or surgery. A KRAS inhibitor for pancreatic cancer (announced by Revolution Medicines) was mentioned briefly as another program of interest.
Cost and system impact: The speaker argued that some therapies may reduce downstream care (hospitalizations, surgeries and repeated radiation) by large margins in individual cases and that biosimilars entering the market will contribute to price reductions over time. The speaker emphasized that while new medicines may carry high per-dose prices, avoided downstream services can yield substantial system savings.
The remarks were descriptive of clinical trial outcomes and programmatic priorities; no formal approvals or regulatory decisions were announced during the session.
