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A new combo therapy is rewriting the playbook for a tough-to-treat lung cancer. Phase 3 trial data from SAFFRON show that osimertinib plus savolitinib cut the risk of progression or death by 45% and extended overall survival by nearly 5 months compared to chemotherapy in EGFR-mutant NSCLC patients with MET overexpression and/or amplification after osimertinib progression. Experts at ESMO 2026 called it a "new global standard of care."
A targeted oral combination is changing the game for patients with EGFR-mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who've run out of options after standard therapy. The phase 3 SAFFRON trial, presented at the 2026 ESMO Congress and simultaneously published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that osimertinib plus savolitinib — a MET inhibitor — significantly outperformed platinum-pemetrexed chemotherapy in patients whose disease progressed on osimertinib and had MET overexpression and/or amplification, a resistance mechanism seen in roughly one-third of such patients.
Adding to the excitement, the phase 3 SANOVO trial, also presented at ESMO, showed that the same combination used in the frontline setting nearly doubled median PFS (24.9 vs. 13.8 months) compared to osimertinib alone in treatment-naive patients with EGFR-mutated, MET-overexpressing NSCLC. An FDA new drug application for the combination was submitted in September 2026.
By the Numbers:
Why it matters: MET-driven resistance is one of the most common reasons EGFR-targeted therapy stops working — and until now, patients had few good options. This all-oral, biomarker-directed regimen offers a meaningful survival benefit with a manageable safety profile, potentially transforming care both after and before osimertinib progression.
