A two-drug treatment cut the risk of death by 58% in a large trial.
The trial is called DeLLphi-305. It enrolled 563 patients.
Patients on both drugs lived a median of 21.1 months, against 12.7 months.
About 79% on the combination were alive after one year, against 53%.
The risk of growth or death fell by 66% with the combination.
Tumors shrank in 26.4% on the combination, against 4.1% alone.
One drug blocks PD-L1. The other links T cells to DLL3 on cancer cells.
Small cell lung cancer is fast-growing and often found late.
Severe side effects hit 20.9% on the combination, against 10.8% alone.
Results were shared on October 24, 2026, at a cancer meeting in Madrid.
The combination still needs approval for this earlier use.
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