A trial looking at different drugs for non small cell lung cancer (National Lung Matrix Trial)

There are lots of different treatment groups in this trial and we don’t have results for them all yet. 

This is a summary of the results so far. We plan to update this page when more results are available.

Results
As of November 2019, the research team had looked for genetic changes in the lung cancer cells of 5,467 people:

• 2,007 people (37%) had a genetic change meaning they would be eligible to join the trial
• 288 people had joined the trial

Group A
This group was for people with a change to the FGFR2 or FGFR3 gene. They had a targeted cancer drug called fexagratinib (AZD4547). 

The research team had to close this group earlier than planned because the company stopped making fexagratinib part way through. At the time there were 5 people in the group, and the cancer had got smaller in 1 person.

Group B
There were several sub groups in Group B. People in these groups had a targeted cancer drug called vistusertib (AZD2014).

The team published more detailed results for this group in 2025. They found that the treatment only worked in a small number of people. They concluded that they could not recommend vistusertib for people with a STK11 gene change.

Some people became resistant to the way vistusertib works. The trial team think this may be because the treatment caused other gene changes. This is useful for researchers developing similar new treatments to know.

Group C
There were several sub groups in Group C. People in these groups had a targeted cancer drug called palbocicilib.

There were 2 groups for people with a change in the CDKN2A gene:

• C1 was for people with a type of cancer called squamous cell cancer
• C2 was for people with a type of cancer called adenocarcinoma

Group D
There were several subgroups in Group D. People in these groups had a targeted cancer drug called crizotinib.

Crizotinib has now been licensed as a treatment for this group of patients.

Group E
There were several subgroups in Group E. People in these groups had a targeted cancer drug called selumetinib and a chemotherapy drug called docetaxel.

There were 2 groups for people with a change in the NF1 gene:

• E1 was for people with a type of cancer called squamous cell cancer
• E2 was for people with a type of cancer called adenocarcinoma

Group F
The people in this group had changes to the PIK3CA, PTEN or AKT gene. They had a targeted cancer drug called capivasertib (AZD5363). 

The cancer didn’t get smaller in any of the 28 people in Group F. So the research team decided to close this group.

Group G
This group was for people with a change in the EGFR gene. They had a targeted cancer drug called osimertinib.

Osimertinib has now been licensed as a treatment for this group of patients.

Group H
This group was for people with a change in the RET gene. They had a targeted cancer drug called sitravatinib. 

The trial team closed this group after research showed that other treatments worked better for people with changes in the RET gene. 

Group J
This group was for people with a change in the KRAS gene. They had targeted cancer drugs called ceralasertib and durvalumab. 

We don’t have the final results for this group yet. 

Group NA1
This group was for people who didn’t have a specific genetic change that could be matched to a drug. They had a targeted cancer drug called durvalumab. 

We don't have the results for this group yet.

Group NAJ
This group was also for people who didn’t have a specific genetic change that could be matched to a drug. They had targeted cancer drugs called ceralasertib (AZD6738) and durvalumab (MEDI4736). 

We don’t have the final results for this group yet. 

Smoking history
The research team looked at the differences between people who had smoked for a long time, those who smoked for short time and those who had never smoked. 

They found that:

• treatment often worked better for people who had never smoked, or had only smoked for a short time
• people with squamous cell carcinoma who smoked did worse than those with other types of lung cancer

Conclusion
The research team have concluded that, so far, some treatments have worked well. But some have not worked as well as they had hoped.

The team also suggest that treatment is more likely to work for people who have never smoked, or not smoked for very long.

Sometimes laboratory studies   show that a drug is promising, but clinical trials show that it doesn’t work well in people with cancer. These results still add to our knowledge and understanding of cancer and how to treat it. 

Where this information comes from

We have based this summary on the information in the articles below. We have not analysed the data ourselves.

These articles have been reviewed by independent specialists (peer reviewed ) and published in medical journals. 

Please note, the information we link to here is not in plain English. It has been written for healthcare professionals and researchers.

Find more information about what trial results mean in our information about clinical trials.

The National Lung Matrix Trial of personalized therapy in lung cancer
G Middleton and others
Nature, 2020. Volume 583, pages 807–812.

A phase II trial of mTORC1/2 inhibition in STK11 deficient non small cell lung cancer
G Middleton and others
NPJ Precision Oncology, 2025. Volume 9, article number 67.