Career Development Award Spotlight: Dr. Eziafa Oduah, Duke University School of Medicine

Dr. Eziafa Oduah, a recipient of our Career Development Award, presented promising new research at the 2026 ASCO Annual Meeting, offering fresh hope for patients whose lung cancer has stopped responding to immunotherapy.

Dr. Oduah is part of the research team at Duke Cancer Institute, where she works alongside colleagues at Moffitt Cancer Center to find new ways forward for patients who’ve run out of standard options. Support from our Career Development Award helped make this work possible — an investment in early-career researchers who are asking bold questions and pursuing answers that could change lives.

Why This Research Matters

For many people living with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), immunotherapy has been a genuine breakthrough — but for some, the treatment eventually stops working, or never works at all. This is known as immunotherapy resistance, and it remains one of the most difficult challenges in lung cancer care today. When standard treatments no longer help, patients and their care teams are often left searching for what’s next.

Dr. Oduah’s research set out to explore a new possibility: could targeting a protein called PCSK9, which appears to help tumors hide from the immune system, help restore the effectiveness of immunotherapy?

What the Study Found

In this Phase 2 clinical trial of 60 patients, the research team paired a cholesterol-lowering drug (alirocumab) with an immunotherapy drug (cemiplimab). The combination showed real promise in a subset of patients — particularly those whose tumors had specific genetic changes in the PIK3CA, PTEN, or AKT1 genes. Patients with these genetic alterations experienced notably longer median overall survival (11.6 months) compared to those without them (7.2 months), and some patients saw durable, lasting responses.

These genetic markers may offer an important clue for the future: a way to identify, ahead of time, which patients are most likely to benefit from this approach. That kind of insight is a meaningful step toward more personalized, effective care.

Just as encouraging, the treatment was generally well-tolerated. Most side effects were mild, and there were no unexpected safety concerns — an important consideration for any new treatment being considered for real-world use.

What’s Next

These findings, while early, point toward a larger confirmatory study to build on what the team has learned. It’s the natural next step in turning a promising signal into a treatment option that could one day help more patients.

We’re proud to support researchers like Dr. Oduah, whose work embodies our commitment to advancing survivorship through science — and who reminds us that hope and progress often start with a single question asked with curiosity and care.

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View Dr. Oduah’s full poster presentation here.

Learn more about this trial (NCT05553834) at ClinicalTrials.gov.