Recent Research Reports New Treatment Options for NSCLC

Recently released studies showed that new treatment options for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) improved outcomes among patients.

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine demonstrated that Tagrisso (osimertinib; AstraZeneca) improved outcomes among non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with an epidermal growth factor receptor.

Suresh S Ramalingam, MD, of the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, and colleagues sought to determine the efficacy of Tagrisso in treatment naive patients with advanced NSCLC.  They studied a cohort 556 patients who received either 80mg of Tagrisso once daily or a standard EGFR-TKI.

They found that Tagrisso improved median progression-free survival, with 18.9 months vs 10.2 months in patients who received standard EGFR-TKIs.

“The results of the FLAURA trial show that in patients with previously untreated EGFR mutation– positive advanced NSCLC, [Tagrisso] treatment resulted in significantly longer progression-free survival than did standard EGFR-TKIs,” Dr Ramalingam and colleagues wrote. “These data suggest that [Tagrisso] is superior to current standard EGFR-TKIs as first- line therapy.”

Additionally, a study presented at the ESMO Asia 2017 Congress found that 300mg of Alecensa (alectinib; Genetech) twice daily was more effective than Xalkori (crizotinib; Pfizer) in patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) NSCLC.

“The first approved ALK inhibitor, [Xalkori], significantly increased response rate and prolonged progression-free survival compared to first- and second-line chemotherapy,” Pilar Garrido,  MD, PhD, head of the Thoracic Tumour Section in the Medical Oncology Department at the Ramón y Cajal University Hospital in Madrid, said in a press release. “However, patients almost invariably relapse on [Xalkori], commonly within one year. [Alecensa] is a highly selective and potent next-generation ALK inhibitor – with high CNS penetration – that has demonstrated significant anti-tumour activity against ALK-rearranged NSCLC in several trials.”

Dr Garrido and colleagues found that a 300mg dose of Alecensa, taken twice-daily, improved progression-free survival compared to Xalkori. Furthermore, response rates were better among Alecensa, at 81.2% vs 76.8% in patients taking Xalkori.

“We now have an extremely efficacious drug to be added to our first line armamentarium without differences in efficacy or safety based on ethnicity,” Dr Garrido said in the press release.

—David Costill

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