Cancer researchers have reported two advances in the fight against lung cancer; a breath test that could detect lung cancer, and two new experimental drugs showing potential for treating patients with the most common form of lung cancer.

Separate clinical trials of the two drugs -- CO-1868 and ramucirumab --confirmed increased patient survival times with less toxic side effects than standard treatments for non-small-cell cancer, scientists at UCLA reported.

Non-small-cell lung cancer accounts for about 85 percent of all lung cancers, the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States.

"We are excited to have a drug that lengthens survival time in lung cancer patients, who often have few options," lead study author and UCLA hemotology-oncology Professor Edward Garon said of the ramucirumab trials.

Current survival time among patients with non-small-cell cancer is generally about 6 to 9 months, with less that 10 percent of patients responding to current therapies, the researches reported at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Chicago.

CO-1686 is an oral drug intended to target mutations involved in lung cancers.

"The results we've seen with CO-1686 are very promising," studh leader Dr. Jonathan Goldman said. "Many of these responses are very dramatic, and the result is that patients can feel better and live longer, often with fewer side affects than chemotherapy."

In another development, researchers at the University of Colorado say a new simple breath test can detect if a person has lung cancer and the extent of the disease's advance.

The test can detect certain compounds produced in cancer cells that enter the bloodstream and cause changes in a patient's breath, they say.

Dubbed NaNose, the test device uses gold nanoparticles to detect those compounds in the breath of patients suffering from lung cancer.

The test proved accurate when tested with 80 lung cancer patients who blew into a balloon, and could distinguish lung cancer patients at an early stage of the disease from those who had an advanced case, the researchers reported at the Chicago meeting.

It also could differentiate between lung cancer and other chronic but noncancerous lung conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, they said.

"This could totally revolutionize lung cancer screening and diagnosis," said Colorado medical oncology Professor Fred Hirsch. "The perspective here is the development of a nontraumatic, easy, cheap approach to early detection and differentiation of lung cancer."