TBD Meeting (4748-20)

Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) is already approved for use in the treatment of esophageal cancer, but in the second-line setting.

New results show that it also improves outcomes when used in the first-line setting, and the investigators suggest that pembrolizumab in combination with chemotherapy should be the new standard of care.

The results come from an interim analysis of the phase 3 KEYNOTE-590 trial, conducted with 740 patients who had advanced cancers of the esophagus or esophagogastric junction (EGJ). The patients were followed for a median of 10.8 months.

The findings show that the combination offered patients a modest but distinct survival benefit over chemotherapy alone.

Median overall survival (OS), one of two primary endpoints for the trial, was 12.4 months for pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy, compared with 9.8 months for patients who received chemotherapy plus placebo.

This difference translated into a hazard ratio (HR) for death with pembrolizumab of 0.73 (P < .0001), reported Peter Enzinger, MD, from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Progression-free survival (PFS), the trial’s other primary endpoint, was superior with the combination, at a median of 6.3 months compared with 5.8 months for chemotherapy alone, translating into an HR for progression with pembrolizumab of 0.65 (P < .0001).

“Pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy should be a new standard of care as first-line therapy in patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastastic esophageal cancer, including the EGJ, regardless of the histology and biomarker status,” Enzinger concluded.

He was speaking at a press briefing prior to a presentation of the data in a presidential symposium at the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) Virtual Congress 2020. (The data were presented in oral session by Ken Kato, MD, from the National Cancer Center Hospital in Tokyo, Japan.)
 

Little change in treatment

“Unfortunately, for esophageal cancer, the standard of care has remained relatively unchanged for a long period of time,” Enzinger said.

Standard first-line therapy for patients with advanced esophageal, EGJ, or gastric adenocarcinoma is primarily a chemotherapy doublet consisting of a fluoropyrimidine plus a platinum agent.

Pembrolizumab was previously shown to have some activity as monotherapy against advanced or metastatic esophageal cancer in the third line in the KEYNOTE-180 trial. It yielded an overall response rate (ORR) of 14%. A median duration of response was not reached among patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and tumors with programmed cell death–ligand-1 (PD-L1) that had combined positive scores (CPSs) of 10 or higher.

Another previous trial, KEYNOTE-181, showed that pembrolizumab monotherapy in the second line was associated with an ORR of 22% vs 7% for chemotherapy and respective median OS of 10.3 vs 6.7 months. This trial led to US Food and Drug Administration approval of pembrolizumab for the treatment of patients with recurrent locally advanced or metastatic ESCC with PD-L1 CPS ≥10 who have experienced disease progression after at least one prior line of therapy.

The trial now being reported, KEYNOTE-590, assessed use of the drug in the first-line setting. It was designed to see whether combining standard-of-care chemotherapy with pembrolizumab would improve outcomes.
 

Study details

Patients were randomly assigned to receive chemotherapy with 5-fluorauracil (5-FU) 800 mg/m² intravenously on days 1–5 every 3 weeks for up to 35 cycles and cisplatin 80 mg/m² IV every 3 weeks for up to 6 cycles, plus either pembrolizumab 200 mg IV every 3 weeks for up to 35 cycles or saline placebo IV.

Rates of treatment-related adverse events of grade 3 or higher were similar between study arms, occurring in 71.9% with the combination and in 67.6% with chemotherapy alone. Adverse events leading to drug discontinuation occurred in 19.5% and 11.6%, respectively. Fatal adverse events occurred in 2.4% of patients who received the combination and in 1.4% of patients who received chemotherapy and placebo.

Immune-mediated adverse events of grade 3 or higher and infusion reactions occurred in 7% and 2.2% of patients, respectively.

Patient-reported quality of life was similar between the groups.
 

Mixed histologies muddy results

The improvement in OS was observed across all patient populations, including patients with ESCC, esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), and EGJ tumors, the researchers noted.

However, invited discussant Andres Cervantes, MD, PhD, from the University of Valencia, Spain, commented that ESCC and EAC have very different histologies and that including patients with both in a single trial can make the results very confusing.

He pointed out that, in the KEYNOTE-590 population, 73% of patients had ESCCs and 27% had EACs.

The OS improvement was seen regardless of PD-L1 expression, although the best results occurred in patients with high expression.

However, Cervantes noted that PD-L1 expression was not used as a stratification factor prior to randomization, even though it was included in the complex, step-wise statistical plan for the study.

Another expert, Salah-Eddin Al-Batran, MD, from the Krankenhaus Nordwest in Frankfurt, Germany, questioned the researchers’ recommendation that all patients with esophageal cancer receive this regimen, regardless of PD-L1 expression.

“We have to be sure that we do not inflate the results for the all-comers by the very responsive group of high [PD-L1] expressers,” he said at the press briefing.

He said the trial report also leaves open the question of efficacy in tumors with microsatellite instability and/or high tumor mutational burden.

“I think these questions have to be addressed to give us a clear picture of how to treat a patient sitting in front of us as doctors,” he said.

Also adding to the concerns about this trial is the fact that the “selected chemotherapy schedule is not much currently used as the standard of care,” said Cervantes, although he added that it “is acceptable for this protocol.”

Despite these caveats, the trial was clearly positive, Cervantes said. The greatest benefit appeared to accrue for patients with ESCC.

“The addition of pembrolizumab to platinum-based chemotherapy significantly increases response rate, PFS, and OS in patients with advanced esophageal carcinomas over chemotherapy alone,” he said, and therefore he agreed with the investigators that “this is a new standard of care.”

The study was funded by Merck Sharp & Dohme. Enzinger disclosed honoraria and advisory or consulting roles for Merck and others. Cervantes disclosed consulting or advising and research funding from Merck Serono and others. He is president-elect of ESMO. Al-Batran has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
 

This story first appeared on Medscape.com.

Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) is already approved for use in the treatment of esophageal cancer, but in the second-line setting.

New results show that it also improves outcomes when used in the first-line setting, and the investigators suggest that pembrolizumab in combination with chemotherapy should be the new standard of care.

The results come from an interim analysis of the phase 3 KEYNOTE-590 trial, conducted with 740 patients who had advanced cancers of the esophagus or esophagogastric junction (EGJ). The patients were followed for a median of 10.8 months.

The findings show that the combination offered patients a modest but distinct survival benefit over chemotherapy alone.

Median overall survival (OS), one of two primary endpoints for the trial, was 12.4 months for pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy, compared with 9.8 months for patients who received chemotherapy plus placebo.

This difference translated into a hazard ratio (HR) for death with pembrolizumab of 0.73 (P < .0001), reported Peter Enzinger, MD, from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Progression-free survival (PFS), the trial’s other primary endpoint, was superior with the combination, at a median of 6.3 months compared with 5.8 months for chemotherapy alone, translating into an HR for progression with pembrolizumab of 0.65 (P < .0001).

“Pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy should be a new standard of care as first-line therapy in patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastastic esophageal cancer, including the EGJ, regardless of the histology and biomarker status,” Enzinger concluded.

He was speaking at a press briefing prior to a presentation of the data in a presidential symposium at the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) Virtual Congress 2020. (The data were presented in oral session by Ken Kato, MD, from the National Cancer Center Hospital in Tokyo, Japan.)
 

Little change in treatment

“Unfortunately, for esophageal cancer, the standard of care has remained relatively unchanged for a long period of time,” Enzinger said.

Standard first-line therapy for patients with advanced esophageal, EGJ, or gastric adenocarcinoma is primarily a chemotherapy doublet consisting of a fluoropyrimidine plus a platinum agent.

Pembrolizumab was previously shown to have some activity as monotherapy against advanced or metastatic esophageal cancer in the third line in the KEYNOTE-180 trial. It yielded an overall response rate (ORR) of 14%. A median duration of response was not reached among patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and tumors with programmed cell death–ligand-1 (PD-L1) that had combined positive scores (CPSs) of 10 or higher.

Another previous trial, KEYNOTE-181, showed that pembrolizumab monotherapy in the second line was associated with an ORR of 22% vs 7% for chemotherapy and respective median OS of 10.3 vs 6.7 months. This trial led to US Food and Drug Administration approval of pembrolizumab for the treatment of patients with recurrent locally advanced or metastatic ESCC with PD-L1 CPS ≥10 who have experienced disease progression after at least one prior line of therapy.

The trial now being reported, KEYNOTE-590, assessed use of the drug in the first-line setting. It was designed to see whether combining standard-of-care chemotherapy with pembrolizumab would improve outcomes.
 

Study details

Patients were randomly assigned to receive chemotherapy with 5-fluorauracil (5-FU) 800 mg/m² intravenously on days 1–5 every 3 weeks for up to 35 cycles and cisplatin 80 mg/m² IV every 3 weeks for up to 6 cycles, plus either pembrolizumab 200 mg IV every 3 weeks for up to 35 cycles or saline placebo IV.

Rates of treatment-related adverse events of grade 3 or higher were similar between study arms, occurring in 71.9% with the combination and in 67.6% with chemotherapy alone. Adverse events leading to drug discontinuation occurred in 19.5% and 11.6%, respectively. Fatal adverse events occurred in 2.4% of patients who received the combination and in 1.4% of patients who received chemotherapy and placebo.

Immune-mediated adverse events of grade 3 or higher and infusion reactions occurred in 7% and 2.2% of patients, respectively.

Patient-reported quality of life was similar between the groups.
 

Mixed histologies muddy results

The improvement in OS was observed across all patient populations, including patients with ESCC, esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), and EGJ tumors, the researchers noted.

However, invited discussant Andres Cervantes, MD, PhD, from the University of Valencia, Spain, commented that ESCC and EAC have very different histologies and that including patients with both in a single trial can make the results very confusing.

He pointed out that, in the KEYNOTE-590 population, 73% of patients had ESCCs and 27% had EACs.

The OS improvement was seen regardless of PD-L1 expression, although the best results occurred in patients with high expression.

However, Cervantes noted that PD-L1 expression was not used as a stratification factor prior to randomization, even though it was included in the complex, step-wise statistical plan for the study.

Another expert, Salah-Eddin Al-Batran, MD, from the Krankenhaus Nordwest in Frankfurt, Germany, questioned the researchers’ recommendation that all patients with esophageal cancer receive this regimen, regardless of PD-L1 expression.

“We have to be sure that we do not inflate the results for the all-comers by the very responsive group of high [PD-L1] expressers,” he said at the press briefing.

He said the trial report also leaves open the question of efficacy in tumors with microsatellite instability and/or high tumor mutational burden.

“I think these questions have to be addressed to give us a clear picture of how to treat a patient sitting in front of us as doctors,” he said.

Also adding to the concerns about this trial is the fact that the “selected chemotherapy schedule is not much currently used as the standard of care,” said Cervantes, although he added that it “is acceptable for this protocol.”

Despite these caveats, the trial was clearly positive, Cervantes said. The greatest benefit appeared to accrue for patients with ESCC.

“The addition of pembrolizumab to platinum-based chemotherapy significantly increases response rate, PFS, and OS in patients with advanced esophageal carcinomas over chemotherapy alone,” he said, and therefore he agreed with the investigators that “this is a new standard of care.”

The study was funded by Merck Sharp & Dohme. Enzinger disclosed honoraria and advisory or consulting roles for Merck and others. Cervantes disclosed consulting or advising and research funding from Merck Serono and others. He is president-elect of ESMO. Al-Batran has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
 

This story first appeared on Medscape.com.

Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) is already approved for use in the treatment of esophageal cancer, but in the second-line setting.

New results show that it also improves outcomes when used in the first-line setting, and the investigators suggest that pembrolizumab in combination with chemotherapy should be the new standard of care.

The results come from an interim analysis of the phase 3 KEYNOTE-590 trial, conducted with 740 patients who had advanced cancers of the esophagus or esophagogastric junction (EGJ). The patients were followed for a median of 10.8 months.

The findings show that the combination offered patients a modest but distinct survival benefit over chemotherapy alone.

Median overall survival (OS), one of two primary endpoints for the trial, was 12.4 months for pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy, compared with 9.8 months for patients who received chemotherapy plus placebo.

This difference translated into a hazard ratio (HR) for death with pembrolizumab of 0.73 (P < .0001), reported Peter Enzinger, MD, from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Progression-free survival (PFS), the trial’s other primary endpoint, was superior with the combination, at a median of 6.3 months compared with 5.8 months for chemotherapy alone, translating into an HR for progression with pembrolizumab of 0.65 (P < .0001).

“Pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy should be a new standard of care as first-line therapy in patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastastic esophageal cancer, including the EGJ, regardless of the histology and biomarker status,” Enzinger concluded.

He was speaking at a press briefing prior to a presentation of the data in a presidential symposium at the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) Virtual Congress 2020. (The data were presented in oral session by Ken Kato, MD, from the National Cancer Center Hospital in Tokyo, Japan.)
 

Little change in treatment

“Unfortunately, for esophageal cancer, the standard of care has remained relatively unchanged for a long period of time,” Enzinger said.

Standard first-line therapy for patients with advanced esophageal, EGJ, or gastric adenocarcinoma is primarily a chemotherapy doublet consisting of a fluoropyrimidine plus a platinum agent.

Pembrolizumab was previously shown to have some activity as monotherapy against advanced or metastatic esophageal cancer in the third line in the KEYNOTE-180 trial. It yielded an overall response rate (ORR) of 14%. A median duration of response was not reached among patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and tumors with programmed cell death–ligand-1 (PD-L1) that had combined positive scores (CPSs) of 10 or higher.

Another previous trial, KEYNOTE-181, showed that pembrolizumab monotherapy in the second line was associated with an ORR of 22% vs 7% for chemotherapy and respective median OS of 10.3 vs 6.7 months. This trial led to US Food and Drug Administration approval of pembrolizumab for the treatment of patients with recurrent locally advanced or metastatic ESCC with PD-L1 CPS ≥10 who have experienced disease progression after at least one prior line of therapy.

The trial now being reported, KEYNOTE-590, assessed use of the drug in the first-line setting. It was designed to see whether combining standard-of-care chemotherapy with pembrolizumab would improve outcomes.
 

Study details

Patients were randomly assigned to receive chemotherapy with 5-fluorauracil (5-FU) 800 mg/m² intravenously on days 1–5 every 3 weeks for up to 35 cycles and cisplatin 80 mg/m² IV every 3 weeks for up to 6 cycles, plus either pembrolizumab 200 mg IV every 3 weeks for up to 35 cycles or saline placebo IV.

Rates of treatment-related adverse events of grade 3 or higher were similar between study arms, occurring in 71.9% with the combination and in 67.6% with chemotherapy alone. Adverse events leading to drug discontinuation occurred in 19.5% and 11.6%, respectively. Fatal adverse events occurred in 2.4% of patients who received the combination and in 1.4% of patients who received chemotherapy and placebo.

Immune-mediated adverse events of grade 3 or higher and infusion reactions occurred in 7% and 2.2% of patients, respectively.

Patient-reported quality of life was similar between the groups.
 

Mixed histologies muddy results

The improvement in OS was observed across all patient populations, including patients with ESCC, esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), and EGJ tumors, the researchers noted.

However, invited discussant Andres Cervantes, MD, PhD, from the University of Valencia, Spain, commented that ESCC and EAC have very different histologies and that including patients with both in a single trial can make the results very confusing.

He pointed out that, in the KEYNOTE-590 population, 73% of patients had ESCCs and 27% had EACs.

The OS improvement was seen regardless of PD-L1 expression, although the best results occurred in patients with high expression.

However, Cervantes noted that PD-L1 expression was not used as a stratification factor prior to randomization, even though it was included in the complex, step-wise statistical plan for the study.

Another expert, Salah-Eddin Al-Batran, MD, from the Krankenhaus Nordwest in Frankfurt, Germany, questioned the researchers’ recommendation that all patients with esophageal cancer receive this regimen, regardless of PD-L1 expression.

“We have to be sure that we do not inflate the results for the all-comers by the very responsive group of high [PD-L1] expressers,” he said at the press briefing.

He said the trial report also leaves open the question of efficacy in tumors with microsatellite instability and/or high tumor mutational burden.

“I think these questions have to be addressed to give us a clear picture of how to treat a patient sitting in front of us as doctors,” he said.

Also adding to the concerns about this trial is the fact that the “selected chemotherapy schedule is not much currently used as the standard of care,” said Cervantes, although he added that it “is acceptable for this protocol.”

Despite these caveats, the trial was clearly positive, Cervantes said. The greatest benefit appeared to accrue for patients with ESCC.

“The addition of pembrolizumab to platinum-based chemotherapy significantly increases response rate, PFS, and OS in patients with advanced esophageal carcinomas over chemotherapy alone,” he said, and therefore he agreed with the investigators that “this is a new standard of care.”

The study was funded by Merck Sharp & Dohme. Enzinger disclosed honoraria and advisory or consulting roles for Merck and others. Cervantes disclosed consulting or advising and research funding from Merck Serono and others. He is president-elect of ESMO. Al-Batran has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
 

This story first appeared on Medscape.com.

Patients with advanced melanoma who have progressed on anti–programmed death 1/PD-ligand 1 (PD-L1) immunotherapy could substantially extend their overall survival (OS) with a combination of the tyrosine kinase inhibitor lenvatinib (Lenvima) and pembrolizumab (Keytruda), suggests an open-label, single arm study.

The research was presented Sept. 19 at the European Society for Medical Oncology Virtual Congress 2020.

In LEAP-004 trial, over 100 patients with stage 3 or 4 melanoma who had progressed after immunotherapy were given lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab, which yielded a median progression-free survival (PFS) of more than 4 months and a median OS of more than a year. Median follow-up was 12 months.

Presenting the findings, Ana Maria Arance Fernandez, MD, PhD, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Spain, said lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab has “promising” antitumor activity in patients with advanced melanoma with confirmed progression on a PD-1 inhibitor given alone or in combination. “These results are encouraging given the stringent definition of progression on prior anti-PD-1 therapy and the enrollment of poor-risk patients.”

Dr. Arance Fernandez added that “these data support lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab as a potential treatment regimen for this population of high unmet medical need.”

Bartosz Chmielowski, MD, PhD, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, who was not involved in the study, discussed the findings.

He highlighted that the patients were not randomly assigned in LEAP-004, with all of them receiving the same therapy.

Nevertheless, the response rate was “quite impressive for this patient population.”

He also drew comparison with previous data with nivolumab (Opdivo) alone or in combination with ipilimumab (Yervoy) in a similar population, noting that the overall survival was less than half that seen in the current trial, “which makes these results even more important.”

“It tells us that this combination might be an option with disease progression on anti-PD-1,” Dr. Chmielowski noted.

Dr. Arance Fernandez pointed out that patients with advanced melanoma who progress on standard-of-care treatment with anti-PD-1 therapy or a cytotoxic T-lymphocyte–associated protein 4 (CTLA4) inhibitor plus anti-PD-1 “have very limited therapeutic options available and there is no approved regimen in this indication.”
 

Response rate, PFS, and OS

Previous studies have indicated that adding an anti-PD-1 drug to lenvatinib achieves superior antitumor activity than either treatment alone, with promising results in phase 1/2b data in pretreated metastatic melanoma.

LEAP-004 therefore enrolled patients with unresectable stage 3 or 4 melanoma, who had disease progression within 12 weeks of their last dose of anti-PD-(L)1 therapy either alone or with a CTLA4 inhibitor. There was no limit on the number of prior treatments.

The patients received pembrolizumab 200 mg IV for up to 35 cycles plus lenvatinib 20 mg daily until progression, unacceptable toxicity, or patient or physician decision.

They were imaged at baseline and every 9 weeks through to week 54, then every 12 weeks until week 102, and then every 24 weeks.

From February to September 2019, 103 patients were enrolled, all of whom received at least one dose of lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab. The median age of the patients was 63 years, and 53.4% were male.

Dr. Arance Fernandez pointed out that this was a high-risk population, with 20.4% having a lactate dehydrogenase level twice the upper limit of normal and 14.6% having brain metastasis, while the median sum of target lesions was 100 mm.

A BRAFv600 mutation was identified in 36.9% of patients, and 64.1% were PD-L1 positive.

Nearly one third (28.2%) had received a prior anti-CTLA4 plus anti-PD-(L)1 combination, and 19.5% had undergone four or more prior lines of therapy.

The overall response rate to lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab was 21.4%, with 1.9% having a complete response and 19.4% a partial response. This was seen across subgroups, including by age and disease stage.

Dr. Arance Fernandez said the overall response rate was even higher in patients who had previously been treated with an anti-CTLA4 plus anti-PD-(L)1 combination, at 31%.

However, Dr. Chmielowski warned that “we must interpret this result with caution since only 29 patients were in this subpopulation.”

The median duration of response (per blinded independent committee review) across the study population was 6.3 months, with 72.6% still responding at 6 months.

The median PFS was 4.2 months with the combination therapy, with 41.7% of patients progression free at 6 months, and 26.2% at 9 months.

Median overall survival was 13.9 months, with 77.3% of patients still alive at 6 months and 65.4% alive at 9 months.

Although 96.1% of patients experienced at least one treatment-related adverse event of any grade, only 44.7% had grade 3 or higher events, and only in 7.8% of cases did that lead to treatment discontinuation.

The most common adverse events were hypertension (56.3%), diarrhea (35.9%), nausea (34%), and hypothyroidism (33%), although, in the vast majority of cases, these events were grade 1 or 2.
 

LEAP presents challenges

Dr. Chmielowski would like to see treatment in this setting individualized somehow.

“It will be also important to come up with personalized immunotherapy so that, based on the mechanism of resistance in patient populations, we would be able to choose the subsequent treatments,” he commented.

Dr. Arance Fernandez explained that lenvatinib inhibits multiple tyrosine kinases involved in angiogenesis, cell proliferation, and immune modulation, and has demonstrated immunomodulatory activity in the tumor microenvironment.

However, Dr. Arance Fernandez noted that, as resistance to immunotherapy is “multifactorial,” it may be that a combination treatment will be more effective in these patients.

The study was funded by Merck. Dr. Arance Fernandez has financial ties to Merck and multiple other drug companies. Dr. Chmielowski has financial ties to Merck Serono and multiple other companies.  

This article first appeared on Medscape.com.

Patients with advanced melanoma who have progressed on anti–programmed death 1/PD-ligand 1 (PD-L1) immunotherapy could substantially extend their overall survival (OS) with a combination of the tyrosine kinase inhibitor lenvatinib (Lenvima) and pembrolizumab (Keytruda), suggests an open-label, single arm study.

The research was presented Sept. 19 at the European Society for Medical Oncology Virtual Congress 2020.

In LEAP-004 trial, over 100 patients with stage 3 or 4 melanoma who had progressed after immunotherapy were given lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab, which yielded a median progression-free survival (PFS) of more than 4 months and a median OS of more than a year. Median follow-up was 12 months.

Presenting the findings, Ana Maria Arance Fernandez, MD, PhD, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Spain, said lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab has “promising” antitumor activity in patients with advanced melanoma with confirmed progression on a PD-1 inhibitor given alone or in combination. “These results are encouraging given the stringent definition of progression on prior anti-PD-1 therapy and the enrollment of poor-risk patients.”

Dr. Arance Fernandez added that “these data support lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab as a potential treatment regimen for this population of high unmet medical need.”

Bartosz Chmielowski, MD, PhD, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, who was not involved in the study, discussed the findings.

He highlighted that the patients were not randomly assigned in LEAP-004, with all of them receiving the same therapy.

Nevertheless, the response rate was “quite impressive for this patient population.”

He also drew comparison with previous data with nivolumab (Opdivo) alone or in combination with ipilimumab (Yervoy) in a similar population, noting that the overall survival was less than half that seen in the current trial, “which makes these results even more important.”

“It tells us that this combination might be an option with disease progression on anti-PD-1,” Dr. Chmielowski noted.

Dr. Arance Fernandez pointed out that patients with advanced melanoma who progress on standard-of-care treatment with anti-PD-1 therapy or a cytotoxic T-lymphocyte–associated protein 4 (CTLA4) inhibitor plus anti-PD-1 “have very limited therapeutic options available and there is no approved regimen in this indication.”
 

Response rate, PFS, and OS

Previous studies have indicated that adding an anti-PD-1 drug to lenvatinib achieves superior antitumor activity than either treatment alone, with promising results in phase 1/2b data in pretreated metastatic melanoma.

LEAP-004 therefore enrolled patients with unresectable stage 3 or 4 melanoma, who had disease progression within 12 weeks of their last dose of anti-PD-(L)1 therapy either alone or with a CTLA4 inhibitor. There was no limit on the number of prior treatments.

The patients received pembrolizumab 200 mg IV for up to 35 cycles plus lenvatinib 20 mg daily until progression, unacceptable toxicity, or patient or physician decision.

They were imaged at baseline and every 9 weeks through to week 54, then every 12 weeks until week 102, and then every 24 weeks.

From February to September 2019, 103 patients were enrolled, all of whom received at least one dose of lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab. The median age of the patients was 63 years, and 53.4% were male.

Dr. Arance Fernandez pointed out that this was a high-risk population, with 20.4% having a lactate dehydrogenase level twice the upper limit of normal and 14.6% having brain metastasis, while the median sum of target lesions was 100 mm.

A BRAFv600 mutation was identified in 36.9% of patients, and 64.1% were PD-L1 positive.

Nearly one third (28.2%) had received a prior anti-CTLA4 plus anti-PD-(L)1 combination, and 19.5% had undergone four or more prior lines of therapy.

The overall response rate to lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab was 21.4%, with 1.9% having a complete response and 19.4% a partial response. This was seen across subgroups, including by age and disease stage.

Dr. Arance Fernandez said the overall response rate was even higher in patients who had previously been treated with an anti-CTLA4 plus anti-PD-(L)1 combination, at 31%.

However, Dr. Chmielowski warned that “we must interpret this result with caution since only 29 patients were in this subpopulation.”

The median duration of response (per blinded independent committee review) across the study population was 6.3 months, with 72.6% still responding at 6 months.

The median PFS was 4.2 months with the combination therapy, with 41.7% of patients progression free at 6 months, and 26.2% at 9 months.

Median overall survival was 13.9 months, with 77.3% of patients still alive at 6 months and 65.4% alive at 9 months.

Although 96.1% of patients experienced at least one treatment-related adverse event of any grade, only 44.7% had grade 3 or higher events, and only in 7.8% of cases did that lead to treatment discontinuation.

The most common adverse events were hypertension (56.3%), diarrhea (35.9%), nausea (34%), and hypothyroidism (33%), although, in the vast majority of cases, these events were grade 1 or 2.
 

LEAP presents challenges

Dr. Chmielowski would like to see treatment in this setting individualized somehow.

“It will be also important to come up with personalized immunotherapy so that, based on the mechanism of resistance in patient populations, we would be able to choose the subsequent treatments,” he commented.

Dr. Arance Fernandez explained that lenvatinib inhibits multiple tyrosine kinases involved in angiogenesis, cell proliferation, and immune modulation, and has demonstrated immunomodulatory activity in the tumor microenvironment.

However, Dr. Arance Fernandez noted that, as resistance to immunotherapy is “multifactorial,” it may be that a combination treatment will be more effective in these patients.

The study was funded by Merck. Dr. Arance Fernandez has financial ties to Merck and multiple other drug companies. Dr. Chmielowski has financial ties to Merck Serono and multiple other companies.  

This article first appeared on Medscape.com.

Patients with advanced melanoma who have progressed on anti–programmed death 1/PD-ligand 1 (PD-L1) immunotherapy could substantially extend their overall survival (OS) with a combination of the tyrosine kinase inhibitor lenvatinib (Lenvima) and pembrolizumab (Keytruda), suggests an open-label, single arm study.

The research was presented Sept. 19 at the European Society for Medical Oncology Virtual Congress 2020.

In LEAP-004 trial, over 100 patients with stage 3 or 4 melanoma who had progressed after immunotherapy were given lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab, which yielded a median progression-free survival (PFS) of more than 4 months and a median OS of more than a year. Median follow-up was 12 months.

Presenting the findings, Ana Maria Arance Fernandez, MD, PhD, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Spain, said lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab has “promising” antitumor activity in patients with advanced melanoma with confirmed progression on a PD-1 inhibitor given alone or in combination. “These results are encouraging given the stringent definition of progression on prior anti-PD-1 therapy and the enrollment of poor-risk patients.”

Dr. Arance Fernandez added that “these data support lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab as a potential treatment regimen for this population of high unmet medical need.”

Bartosz Chmielowski, MD, PhD, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, who was not involved in the study, discussed the findings.

He highlighted that the patients were not randomly assigned in LEAP-004, with all of them receiving the same therapy.

Nevertheless, the response rate was “quite impressive for this patient population.”

He also drew comparison with previous data with nivolumab (Opdivo) alone or in combination with ipilimumab (Yervoy) in a similar population, noting that the overall survival was less than half that seen in the current trial, “which makes these results even more important.”

“It tells us that this combination might be an option with disease progression on anti-PD-1,” Dr. Chmielowski noted.

Dr. Arance Fernandez pointed out that patients with advanced melanoma who progress on standard-of-care treatment with anti-PD-1 therapy or a cytotoxic T-lymphocyte–associated protein 4 (CTLA4) inhibitor plus anti-PD-1 “have very limited therapeutic options available and there is no approved regimen in this indication.”
 

Response rate, PFS, and OS

Previous studies have indicated that adding an anti-PD-1 drug to lenvatinib achieves superior antitumor activity than either treatment alone, with promising results in phase 1/2b data in pretreated metastatic melanoma.

LEAP-004 therefore enrolled patients with unresectable stage 3 or 4 melanoma, who had disease progression within 12 weeks of their last dose of anti-PD-(L)1 therapy either alone or with a CTLA4 inhibitor. There was no limit on the number of prior treatments.

The patients received pembrolizumab 200 mg IV for up to 35 cycles plus lenvatinib 20 mg daily until progression, unacceptable toxicity, or patient or physician decision.

They were imaged at baseline and every 9 weeks through to week 54, then every 12 weeks until week 102, and then every 24 weeks.

From February to September 2019, 103 patients were enrolled, all of whom received at least one dose of lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab. The median age of the patients was 63 years, and 53.4% were male.

Dr. Arance Fernandez pointed out that this was a high-risk population, with 20.4% having a lactate dehydrogenase level twice the upper limit of normal and 14.6% having brain metastasis, while the median sum of target lesions was 100 mm.

A BRAFv600 mutation was identified in 36.9% of patients, and 64.1% were PD-L1 positive.

Nearly one third (28.2%) had received a prior anti-CTLA4 plus anti-PD-(L)1 combination, and 19.5% had undergone four or more prior lines of therapy.

The overall response rate to lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab was 21.4%, with 1.9% having a complete response and 19.4% a partial response. This was seen across subgroups, including by age and disease stage.

Dr. Arance Fernandez said the overall response rate was even higher in patients who had previously been treated with an anti-CTLA4 plus anti-PD-(L)1 combination, at 31%.

However, Dr. Chmielowski warned that “we must interpret this result with caution since only 29 patients were in this subpopulation.”

The median duration of response (per blinded independent committee review) across the study population was 6.3 months, with 72.6% still responding at 6 months.

The median PFS was 4.2 months with the combination therapy, with 41.7% of patients progression free at 6 months, and 26.2% at 9 months.

Median overall survival was 13.9 months, with 77.3% of patients still alive at 6 months and 65.4% alive at 9 months.

Although 96.1% of patients experienced at least one treatment-related adverse event of any grade, only 44.7% had grade 3 or higher events, and only in 7.8% of cases did that lead to treatment discontinuation.

The most common adverse events were hypertension (56.3%), diarrhea (35.9%), nausea (34%), and hypothyroidism (33%), although, in the vast majority of cases, these events were grade 1 or 2.
 

LEAP presents challenges

Dr. Chmielowski would like to see treatment in this setting individualized somehow.

“It will be also important to come up with personalized immunotherapy so that, based on the mechanism of resistance in patient populations, we would be able to choose the subsequent treatments,” he commented.

Dr. Arance Fernandez explained that lenvatinib inhibits multiple tyrosine kinases involved in angiogenesis, cell proliferation, and immune modulation, and has demonstrated immunomodulatory activity in the tumor microenvironment.

However, Dr. Arance Fernandez noted that, as resistance to immunotherapy is “multifactorial,” it may be that a combination treatment will be more effective in these patients.

The study was funded by Merck. Dr. Arance Fernandez has financial ties to Merck and multiple other drug companies. Dr. Chmielowski has financial ties to Merck Serono and multiple other companies.  

This article first appeared on Medscape.com.

Adding palbociclib to letrozole significantly prolonged progression-free survival (PFS) in a phase 2 trial of patients with advanced or recurrent estrogen receptor (ER)–positive endometrial cancer.

This was the first randomized trial to evaluate the efficacy of a CDK4/6 inhibitor in combination with an aromatase inhibitor in patients with advanced or recurrent ER-positive endometrial cancer, noted study investigator Mansoor Raza Mirza, MD, PhD, of Rigshospitalet Copenhagen University Hospital.

Dr. Mirza presented results from this study, ENGOT-EN3-NSGO/PALEO, at the European Society for Medical Oncology Virtual Congress 2020.

Palbociclib is a selective inhibitor of CDK4/, both of which are involved in cell-cycle transitions, Dr. Mirza explained. He observed that endometrial endometrioid adenocarcinomas are hormone dependent, and endocrine treatment with an aromatase inhibitor is well established. Palbociclib has been shown to be superior, when combined with letrozole, to letrozole alone in ER-positive breast cancer.

For the ENGOT-EN3-NSGO/PALEO study, investigators enrolled 77 patients with ER-positive advanced/recurrent endometrial cancer. Patients had received at least one prior systemic therapy, no prior endocrine therapy (except medroxyprogesterone acetate and megestrol acetate), and no prior CDK inhibitor.

Patients were randomized 1:1 to receive oral letrozole (2.5 mg on days 1-28) and either palbociclib (125 mg on days 1-21) or placebo (125 mg on days 1-21) in a 28-day cycle until progression. Baseline characteristics were similar between the treatment arms.
 

Efficacy

Of the 77 patients enrolled, 73 were evaluable. The primary endpoint was PFS.

The median PFS in the intention-to-treat population was 3.0 months in the placebo arm and 8.3 months in the palbociclib arm (hazard ratio, 0.56; 95% confidence interval, 0.32-0.98; P = .0376).

Looking at stratification factors, PFS was higher in the palbociclib arm among the large majority (about 85%) of patients who had received no prior medroxyprogesterone acetate or megestrol acetate (HR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.29-01.04; P = .0615) and among patients with relapsed disease (HR, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.34-1.09; P = .0916).

The disease control rate at 24 weeks, a secondary endpoint, was 63.6% in the palbociclib arm and 37.8% in the placebo arm.
 

Safety

Adverse events were more frequent in the palbociclib arm, with neutropenia being the most common.

Rates of adverse event–related dose reduction (to 100 mg or 75 mg) were 36% in the palbociclib arm and 3% in the placebo arm.

Adverse event–related discontinuation rates were 25% and 19% for palbociclib and letrozole, respectively, in the palbociclib arm and 14% and 11% for placebo and letrozole, respectively, in the placebo arm.

“The toxicity of palbociclib plus letrozole combination therapy was manageable, with most patients remaining on treatment until disease progression,” Dr. Mirza said.

He noted that an analysis of patient-reported outcomes revealed no detrimental effect on quality of life with the combination therapy.
 

Next steps

“Compared with placebo plus letrozole, the combination of palbociclib plus letrozole demonstrated clinically meaningful improvement in PFS,” Dr. Mirza said. “These results merit a phase 3 validation trial.”

“There is a huge rationale for using this drug in endometrial cancer,” commented study discussant Domenica Lorusso, MD, PhD, of Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS and Catholic University of Sacred Hearth in Rome.

Dr. Lorusso said hormone receptor expression, which has been identified as a strong predictor of CDK4/6 inhibitor activity, is present in up to 90% of patients with type 1 and in about 65% of patients with type 2 endometrial cancer.

Response rates, in experience with aromatase inhibitors, have been “quite disappointing, in the 10%-20% range,” Dr. Lorusso said, with “dismal prognosis” and guidelines stating that “no standard second-line treatment has been identified.”

This research was sponsored by investigators, but Pfizer provided a study grant. Dr. Mirza disclosed relationships with Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Biocad, Clovis Oncology, Genmab, Karyopharm Therapeutics, Merck, Oncology Adventure, Roche, Seattle Genetics, Sera Prognostics, Sotio, GlaxoSmithKline, Zai Lab, and Boehringer Ingelheim. Dr. Lorusso disclosed relationships with AstraZeneca, Biocad, Clovis Oncology, Genmab, Merck, Roche, Tesaro, Amgen, Immunogen, and Pharma Mar.

SOURCE: Mirza MR et al. ESMO 2020, Abstract LBA28.

Adding palbociclib to letrozole significantly prolonged progression-free survival (PFS) in a phase 2 trial of patients with advanced or recurrent estrogen receptor (ER)–positive endometrial cancer.

This was the first randomized trial to evaluate the efficacy of a CDK4/6 inhibitor in combination with an aromatase inhibitor in patients with advanced or recurrent ER-positive endometrial cancer, noted study investigator Mansoor Raza Mirza, MD, PhD, of Rigshospitalet Copenhagen University Hospital.

Dr. Mirza presented results from this study, ENGOT-EN3-NSGO/PALEO, at the European Society for Medical Oncology Virtual Congress 2020.

Palbociclib is a selective inhibitor of CDK4/, both of which are involved in cell-cycle transitions, Dr. Mirza explained. He observed that endometrial endometrioid adenocarcinomas are hormone dependent, and endocrine treatment with an aromatase inhibitor is well established. Palbociclib has been shown to be superior, when combined with letrozole, to letrozole alone in ER-positive breast cancer.

For the ENGOT-EN3-NSGO/PALEO study, investigators enrolled 77 patients with ER-positive advanced/recurrent endometrial cancer. Patients had received at least one prior systemic therapy, no prior endocrine therapy (except medroxyprogesterone acetate and megestrol acetate), and no prior CDK inhibitor.

Patients were randomized 1:1 to receive oral letrozole (2.5 mg on days 1-28) and either palbociclib (125 mg on days 1-21) or placebo (125 mg on days 1-21) in a 28-day cycle until progression. Baseline characteristics were similar between the treatment arms.
 

Efficacy

Of the 77 patients enrolled, 73 were evaluable. The primary endpoint was PFS.

The median PFS in the intention-to-treat population was 3.0 months in the placebo arm and 8.3 months in the palbociclib arm (hazard ratio, 0.56; 95% confidence interval, 0.32-0.98; P = .0376).

Looking at stratification factors, PFS was higher in the palbociclib arm among the large majority (about 85%) of patients who had received no prior medroxyprogesterone acetate or megestrol acetate (HR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.29-01.04; P = .0615) and among patients with relapsed disease (HR, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.34-1.09; P = .0916).

The disease control rate at 24 weeks, a secondary endpoint, was 63.6% in the palbociclib arm and 37.8% in the placebo arm.
 

Safety

Adverse events were more frequent in the palbociclib arm, with neutropenia being the most common.

Rates of adverse event–related dose reduction (to 100 mg or 75 mg) were 36% in the palbociclib arm and 3% in the placebo arm.

Adverse event–related discontinuation rates were 25% and 19% for palbociclib and letrozole, respectively, in the palbociclib arm and 14% and 11% for placebo and letrozole, respectively, in the placebo arm.

“The toxicity of palbociclib plus letrozole combination therapy was manageable, with most patients remaining on treatment until disease progression,” Dr. Mirza said.

He noted that an analysis of patient-reported outcomes revealed no detrimental effect on quality of life with the combination therapy.
 

Next steps

“Compared with placebo plus letrozole, the combination of palbociclib plus letrozole demonstrated clinically meaningful improvement in PFS,” Dr. Mirza said. “These results merit a phase 3 validation trial.”

“There is a huge rationale for using this drug in endometrial cancer,” commented study discussant Domenica Lorusso, MD, PhD, of Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS and Catholic University of Sacred Hearth in Rome.

Dr. Lorusso said hormone receptor expression, which has been identified as a strong predictor of CDK4/6 inhibitor activity, is present in up to 90% of patients with type 1 and in about 65% of patients with type 2 endometrial cancer.

Response rates, in experience with aromatase inhibitors, have been “quite disappointing, in the 10%-20% range,” Dr. Lorusso said, with “dismal prognosis” and guidelines stating that “no standard second-line treatment has been identified.”

This research was sponsored by investigators, but Pfizer provided a study grant. Dr. Mirza disclosed relationships with Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Biocad, Clovis Oncology, Genmab, Karyopharm Therapeutics, Merck, Oncology Adventure, Roche, Seattle Genetics, Sera Prognostics, Sotio, GlaxoSmithKline, Zai Lab, and Boehringer Ingelheim. Dr. Lorusso disclosed relationships with AstraZeneca, Biocad, Clovis Oncology, Genmab, Merck, Roche, Tesaro, Amgen, Immunogen, and Pharma Mar.

SOURCE: Mirza MR et al. ESMO 2020, Abstract LBA28.

Adding palbociclib to letrozole significantly prolonged progression-free survival (PFS) in a phase 2 trial of patients with advanced or recurrent estrogen receptor (ER)–positive endometrial cancer.

This was the first randomized trial to evaluate the efficacy of a CDK4/6 inhibitor in combination with an aromatase inhibitor in patients with advanced or recurrent ER-positive endometrial cancer, noted study investigator Mansoor Raza Mirza, MD, PhD, of Rigshospitalet Copenhagen University Hospital.

Dr. Mirza presented results from this study, ENGOT-EN3-NSGO/PALEO, at the European Society for Medical Oncology Virtual Congress 2020.

Palbociclib is a selective inhibitor of CDK4/, both of which are involved in cell-cycle transitions, Dr. Mirza explained. He observed that endometrial endometrioid adenocarcinomas are hormone dependent, and endocrine treatment with an aromatase inhibitor is well established. Palbociclib has been shown to be superior, when combined with letrozole, to letrozole alone in ER-positive breast cancer.

For the ENGOT-EN3-NSGO/PALEO study, investigators enrolled 77 patients with ER-positive advanced/recurrent endometrial cancer. Patients had received at least one prior systemic therapy, no prior endocrine therapy (except medroxyprogesterone acetate and megestrol acetate), and no prior CDK inhibitor.

Patients were randomized 1:1 to receive oral letrozole (2.5 mg on days 1-28) and either palbociclib (125 mg on days 1-21) or placebo (125 mg on days 1-21) in a 28-day cycle until progression. Baseline characteristics were similar between the treatment arms.
 

Efficacy

Of the 77 patients enrolled, 73 were evaluable. The primary endpoint was PFS.

The median PFS in the intention-to-treat population was 3.0 months in the placebo arm and 8.3 months in the palbociclib arm (hazard ratio, 0.56; 95% confidence interval, 0.32-0.98; P = .0376).

Looking at stratification factors, PFS was higher in the palbociclib arm among the large majority (about 85%) of patients who had received no prior medroxyprogesterone acetate or megestrol acetate (HR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.29-01.04; P = .0615) and among patients with relapsed disease (HR, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.34-1.09; P = .0916).

The disease control rate at 24 weeks, a secondary endpoint, was 63.6% in the palbociclib arm and 37.8% in the placebo arm.
 

Safety

Adverse events were more frequent in the palbociclib arm, with neutropenia being the most common.

Rates of adverse event–related dose reduction (to 100 mg or 75 mg) were 36% in the palbociclib arm and 3% in the placebo arm.

Adverse event–related discontinuation rates were 25% and 19% for palbociclib and letrozole, respectively, in the palbociclib arm and 14% and 11% for placebo and letrozole, respectively, in the placebo arm.

“The toxicity of palbociclib plus letrozole combination therapy was manageable, with most patients remaining on treatment until disease progression,” Dr. Mirza said.

He noted that an analysis of patient-reported outcomes revealed no detrimental effect on quality of life with the combination therapy.
 

Next steps

“Compared with placebo plus letrozole, the combination of palbociclib plus letrozole demonstrated clinically meaningful improvement in PFS,” Dr. Mirza said. “These results merit a phase 3 validation trial.”

“There is a huge rationale for using this drug in endometrial cancer,” commented study discussant Domenica Lorusso, MD, PhD, of Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS and Catholic University of Sacred Hearth in Rome.

Dr. Lorusso said hormone receptor expression, which has been identified as a strong predictor of CDK4/6 inhibitor activity, is present in up to 90% of patients with type 1 and in about 65% of patients with type 2 endometrial cancer.

Response rates, in experience with aromatase inhibitors, have been “quite disappointing, in the 10%-20% range,” Dr. Lorusso said, with “dismal prognosis” and guidelines stating that “no standard second-line treatment has been identified.”

This research was sponsored by investigators, but Pfizer provided a study grant. Dr. Mirza disclosed relationships with Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Biocad, Clovis Oncology, Genmab, Karyopharm Therapeutics, Merck, Oncology Adventure, Roche, Seattle Genetics, Sera Prognostics, Sotio, GlaxoSmithKline, Zai Lab, and Boehringer Ingelheim. Dr. Lorusso disclosed relationships with AstraZeneca, Biocad, Clovis Oncology, Genmab, Merck, Roche, Tesaro, Amgen, Immunogen, and Pharma Mar.

SOURCE: Mirza MR et al. ESMO 2020, Abstract LBA28.

Adding the CDK4/6 inhibitor abemaciclib (Verzenio) to endocrine therapy significantly reduces the risk of early recurrence in high-risk hormone receptor positive (HR+), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)–negative breast cancer, suggests a preplanned interim analysis of a phase 3 trial.

The research was presented Sept. 19 at the ESMO Virtual Congress 2020 and simultaneously published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

The monarchE trial compared 2 years of abemaciclib plus endocrine therapy vs endocrine therapy alone among 5,600 patients and found that the combination was associated with a 25% relative risk reduction in the primary endpoint – invasive disease-free survival (P =.0096; HR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.60 - 0.93)

At 2 years, the rate of invasive disease-free survival was 92.2% in the abemaciclib arm vs 88.7% in the group that took endocrine therapy alone.

“This is the first time in more than 20 years that we have seen an advance in the adjuvant treatment of this form of breast cancer,” said lead investigator Stephen Johnston, MD, PhD, from the Royal Marsden Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in London, UK, in a meeting press release.

He told Medscape Medical News that the high-risk patients in their study “are predicted to relapse quite quickly” as a result of having a degree of endocrine resistance, “and by intervening early we are stopping these recurrences within the first 2 years.”

He continued: “The key issue ... is whether you need 2 years of treatment or perhaps even longer. One other trial is looking at 3 years with another drug, and we’ll just have to await further follow-up of the data to see if the [monarchE] curves continue to separate while on treatment.”

According to Giuseppe Curigliano, MD, PhD, head of the Division of Early Drug Development at the European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy, “This is a very important trial and the findings will change practice. Once approved for high risk HR+ HER2-negative early breast cancer, the new standard of care for these patients will be to add two years of abemaciclib to endocrine therapy.”

Curigliano, who was not involved with the study, further commented during a meeting press conference that a randomized trial will be needed to answer a new important question: Can these high-risk patients treated with a CDK4/6 inhibitor be spared chemotherapy?

Investigator Johnston pointed out that many patients diagnosed with HR+, HER2 breast cancer will not experience recurrence with standard-of-care therapies.

But he also explained “that up to 20% may develop recurrence or distant relapse in the first 10 years” and that the risk of recurrence is “much greater” for patients who have high-risk clinical or pathological features, “especially during the first few years on their adjuvant endocrine therapy.”
 

Study details

Abemaciclib was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2017 and is approved in combination with the endocrine therapy fulvestrant for the treatment of HR+, HER2-negative advanced or metastatic breast cancer that has progressed after endocrine therapy.

The approval was, in part, based on data from the MONARCH-2 trial, which showed consistent overall survival benefits with the combination.

MonarchE, on the other hand, examined the impact of abemaciclib in the first-line adjuvant setting, enrolling patients with HR+, HER2-negative, node-positive early breast cancer who had a tumor size of ≥5 cm, histologic grade 3 disease, and/or Ki67 index of ≥20%.

They were randomly assigned in a 1:1 fashion to abemaciclib 150 mg twice daily for up to 2 years plus standard of care endocrine therapy or standard of care endocrine therapy alone.

The choice of endocrine therapy was left to the physician and was continued for 5-10 years, as clinically indicated.

The trial included 5,637 patients. An efficacy interim analysis was planned for when 75% of the estimated invasive disease-free survival events had occurred, which equated to 323 events in the intention-to-treat population.

This occurred after approximately 15.5 months of follow-up in each arm, when 12.5% of patients had completed the 2-year treatment period, leaving 70% still in treatment.

The intention-to-treat population included 2,808 patients from the abemaciclib plus endocrine therapy group and 2,829 in the group taking endocrine therapy alone.

The two groups were well balanced in terms of their baseline characteristics. The vast majority (approximately 85%) of patients were younger than 65 years, and 56.5% were postmenopausal.

Also, 37% had previously received neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and approximately 58% had adjuvant chemotherapy.

Distant relapse-free survival was significantly reduced with abemaciclib plus endocrine therapy vs endocrine therapy alone, at a hazard ratio of 0.72 (P = .0085), and a 2-year rate of 93.6% and 90.3%, respectively.

Johnston highlighted that not only was the number of patients with distant recurrences reduced with the combination therapy, at 92 vs 142 with endocrine therapy alone, but also the reductions were in key locations.

The number of patients with recurrences in the bone were 32 with abemaciclib and 81 with endocrine therapy alone; 29 patients with abemaciclib and 42 with endocrine therapy alone had recurrences in the liver.

The results show that the most frequent adverse events in the abemaciclib arm were diarrhea (82%), neutropenia (45%), and fatigue (38%), whereas arthralgia (31%), hot flush (21%), and fatigue (15%) were seen most often in the control group.

Venous thromboembolic events were recorded in 2.3% of patients in the abemaciclib group versus 0.5% of those on endocrine therapy alone; interstitial lung disease was seen in 2.7% and 1.2%, respectively.

Despite the protocol allowing dose reductions from 150 mg to 100 mg twice daily if required, 463 (16.6%) patients discontinued abemaciclib as a result of adverse events. Of those, 306 continued on endocrine therapy.

“Adherence to treatment will be an important issue to be considered in the real-life population of patients when this treatment is approved and used in clinical practice,” Johnston said.

Nevertheless, diarrhea frequency and severity decreased significantly over time, and only 4.8% of the abemaciclib group discontinued use as a result of this adverse event.
 

Questions remain

George W. Sledge Jr, MD, professor of medicine (oncology) at Stanford University Medical Center, Palo Alto, California, was the invited discussant after the presentation.

He said that “positive trials raise as many questions as they answer, and monarchE is no exception.”

For example, there is the conundrum posed by the negative results of the very similar PALLAS trial, which looked at the addition of palbociclib to adjuvant endocrine therapy for HR+, HER2-negative early breast cancer and was also presented at the ESMO meeting.

Returning to monarchE, Sledge asked what the ultimate increase in invasive disease- and distant relapse-free survival will be with the drug combination, noting that the trial has “very, very short follow-up.”

“Second, will the improvements seen in disease-free survival lead to what we really care about: improved overall survival? Again, time will tell, but health care systems and patients care deeply about the answer to this question.”

Sledge continued: “How about late recurrence? Do CDK4/6 inhibitors kill off dormant or slow-growing micro-mets that lead to recurrences 5 or more years out?”

He also asked what the optimum duration of therapy would be: “Is it more than we need, or not enough?”

Sledge wondered whether it is possible to determine who benefits “and why the drug fails some patients.”

Finally, Sledge said, “These drugs are expensive. ... 2 years of adjuvant therapy is simply out of reach for the majority of patients around the globe who might be candidates for adjuvant CDK4/6 inhibitor therapy.”

And he observed an important truism: “A patient cannot benefit from a drug she cannot take.”

The study was funded by Eli Lilly. Johnston, Sledge, and Curigliano have financial ties to Eli Lilly and multiple other drug companies.
 

This article first appeared on Medscape.com.

Adding the CDK4/6 inhibitor abemaciclib (Verzenio) to endocrine therapy significantly reduces the risk of early recurrence in high-risk hormone receptor positive (HR+), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)–negative breast cancer, suggests a preplanned interim analysis of a phase 3 trial.

The research was presented Sept. 19 at the ESMO Virtual Congress 2020 and simultaneously published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

The monarchE trial compared 2 years of abemaciclib plus endocrine therapy vs endocrine therapy alone among 5,600 patients and found that the combination was associated with a 25% relative risk reduction in the primary endpoint – invasive disease-free survival (P =.0096; HR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.60 - 0.93)

At 2 years, the rate of invasive disease-free survival was 92.2% in the abemaciclib arm vs 88.7% in the group that took endocrine therapy alone.

“This is the first time in more than 20 years that we have seen an advance in the adjuvant treatment of this form of breast cancer,” said lead investigator Stephen Johnston, MD, PhD, from the Royal Marsden Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in London, UK, in a meeting press release.

He told Medscape Medical News that the high-risk patients in their study “are predicted to relapse quite quickly” as a result of having a degree of endocrine resistance, “and by intervening early we are stopping these recurrences within the first 2 years.”

He continued: “The key issue ... is whether you need 2 years of treatment or perhaps even longer. One other trial is looking at 3 years with another drug, and we’ll just have to await further follow-up of the data to see if the [monarchE] curves continue to separate while on treatment.”

According to Giuseppe Curigliano, MD, PhD, head of the Division of Early Drug Development at the European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy, “This is a very important trial and the findings will change practice. Once approved for high risk HR+ HER2-negative early breast cancer, the new standard of care for these patients will be to add two years of abemaciclib to endocrine therapy.”

Curigliano, who was not involved with the study, further commented during a meeting press conference that a randomized trial will be needed to answer a new important question: Can these high-risk patients treated with a CDK4/6 inhibitor be spared chemotherapy?

Investigator Johnston pointed out that many patients diagnosed with HR+, HER2 breast cancer will not experience recurrence with standard-of-care therapies.

But he also explained “that up to 20% may develop recurrence or distant relapse in the first 10 years” and that the risk of recurrence is “much greater” for patients who have high-risk clinical or pathological features, “especially during the first few years on their adjuvant endocrine therapy.”
 

Study details

Abemaciclib was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2017 and is approved in combination with the endocrine therapy fulvestrant for the treatment of HR+, HER2-negative advanced or metastatic breast cancer that has progressed after endocrine therapy.

The approval was, in part, based on data from the MONARCH-2 trial, which showed consistent overall survival benefits with the combination.

MonarchE, on the other hand, examined the impact of abemaciclib in the first-line adjuvant setting, enrolling patients with HR+, HER2-negative, node-positive early breast cancer who had a tumor size of ≥5 cm, histologic grade 3 disease, and/or Ki67 index of ≥20%.

They were randomly assigned in a 1:1 fashion to abemaciclib 150 mg twice daily for up to 2 years plus standard of care endocrine therapy or standard of care endocrine therapy alone.

The choice of endocrine therapy was left to the physician and was continued for 5-10 years, as clinically indicated.

The trial included 5,637 patients. An efficacy interim analysis was planned for when 75% of the estimated invasive disease-free survival events had occurred, which equated to 323 events in the intention-to-treat population.

This occurred after approximately 15.5 months of follow-up in each arm, when 12.5% of patients had completed the 2-year treatment period, leaving 70% still in treatment.

The intention-to-treat population included 2,808 patients from the abemaciclib plus endocrine therapy group and 2,829 in the group taking endocrine therapy alone.

The two groups were well balanced in terms of their baseline characteristics. The vast majority (approximately 85%) of patients were younger than 65 years, and 56.5% were postmenopausal.

Also, 37% had previously received neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and approximately 58% had adjuvant chemotherapy.

Distant relapse-free survival was significantly reduced with abemaciclib plus endocrine therapy vs endocrine therapy alone, at a hazard ratio of 0.72 (P = .0085), and a 2-year rate of 93.6% and 90.3%, respectively.

Johnston highlighted that not only was the number of patients with distant recurrences reduced with the combination therapy, at 92 vs 142 with endocrine therapy alone, but also the reductions were in key locations.

The number of patients with recurrences in the bone were 32 with abemaciclib and 81 with endocrine therapy alone; 29 patients with abemaciclib and 42 with endocrine therapy alone had recurrences in the liver.

The results show that the most frequent adverse events in the abemaciclib arm were diarrhea (82%), neutropenia (45%), and fatigue (38%), whereas arthralgia (31%), hot flush (21%), and fatigue (15%) were seen most often in the control group.

Venous thromboembolic events were recorded in 2.3% of patients in the abemaciclib group versus 0.5% of those on endocrine therapy alone; interstitial lung disease was seen in 2.7% and 1.2%, respectively.

Despite the protocol allowing dose reductions from 150 mg to 100 mg twice daily if required, 463 (16.6%) patients discontinued abemaciclib as a result of adverse events. Of those, 306 continued on endocrine therapy.

“Adherence to treatment will be an important issue to be considered in the real-life population of patients when this treatment is approved and used in clinical practice,” Johnston said.

Nevertheless, diarrhea frequency and severity decreased significantly over time, and only 4.8% of the abemaciclib group discontinued use as a result of this adverse event.
 

Questions remain

George W. Sledge Jr, MD, professor of medicine (oncology) at Stanford University Medical Center, Palo Alto, California, was the invited discussant after the presentation.

He said that “positive trials raise as many questions as they answer, and monarchE is no exception.”

For example, there is the conundrum posed by the negative results of the very similar PALLAS trial, which looked at the addition of palbociclib to adjuvant endocrine therapy for HR+, HER2-negative early breast cancer and was also presented at the ESMO meeting.

Returning to monarchE, Sledge asked what the ultimate increase in invasive disease- and distant relapse-free survival will be with the drug combination, noting that the trial has “very, very short follow-up.”

“Second, will the improvements seen in disease-free survival lead to what we really care about: improved overall survival? Again, time will tell, but health care systems and patients care deeply about the answer to this question.”

Sledge continued: “How about late recurrence? Do CDK4/6 inhibitors kill off dormant or slow-growing micro-mets that lead to recurrences 5 or more years out?”

He also asked what the optimum duration of therapy would be: “Is it more than we need, or not enough?”

Sledge wondered whether it is possible to determine who benefits “and why the drug fails some patients.”

Finally, Sledge said, “These drugs are expensive. ... 2 years of adjuvant therapy is simply out of reach for the majority of patients around the globe who might be candidates for adjuvant CDK4/6 inhibitor therapy.”

And he observed an important truism: “A patient cannot benefit from a drug she cannot take.”

The study was funded by Eli Lilly. Johnston, Sledge, and Curigliano have financial ties to Eli Lilly and multiple other drug companies.
 

This article first appeared on Medscape.com.

Adding the CDK4/6 inhibitor abemaciclib (Verzenio) to endocrine therapy significantly reduces the risk of early recurrence in high-risk hormone receptor positive (HR+), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)–negative breast cancer, suggests a preplanned interim analysis of a phase 3 trial.

The research was presented Sept. 19 at the ESMO Virtual Congress 2020 and simultaneously published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

The monarchE trial compared 2 years of abemaciclib plus endocrine therapy vs endocrine therapy alone among 5,600 patients and found that the combination was associated with a 25% relative risk reduction in the primary endpoint – invasive disease-free survival (P =.0096; HR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.60 - 0.93)

At 2 years, the rate of invasive disease-free survival was 92.2% in the abemaciclib arm vs 88.7% in the group that took endocrine therapy alone.

“This is the first time in more than 20 years that we have seen an advance in the adjuvant treatment of this form of breast cancer,” said lead investigator Stephen Johnston, MD, PhD, from the Royal Marsden Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in London, UK, in a meeting press release.

He told Medscape Medical News that the high-risk patients in their study “are predicted to relapse quite quickly” as a result of having a degree of endocrine resistance, “and by intervening early we are stopping these recurrences within the first 2 years.”

He continued: “The key issue ... is whether you need 2 years of treatment or perhaps even longer. One other trial is looking at 3 years with another drug, and we’ll just have to await further follow-up of the data to see if the [monarchE] curves continue to separate while on treatment.”

According to Giuseppe Curigliano, MD, PhD, head of the Division of Early Drug Development at the European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy, “This is a very important trial and the findings will change practice. Once approved for high risk HR+ HER2-negative early breast cancer, the new standard of care for these patients will be to add two years of abemaciclib to endocrine therapy.”

Curigliano, who was not involved with the study, further commented during a meeting press conference that a randomized trial will be needed to answer a new important question: Can these high-risk patients treated with a CDK4/6 inhibitor be spared chemotherapy?

Investigator Johnston pointed out that many patients diagnosed with HR+, HER2 breast cancer will not experience recurrence with standard-of-care therapies.

But he also explained “that up to 20% may develop recurrence or distant relapse in the first 10 years” and that the risk of recurrence is “much greater” for patients who have high-risk clinical or pathological features, “especially during the first few years on their adjuvant endocrine therapy.”
 

Study details

Abemaciclib was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2017 and is approved in combination with the endocrine therapy fulvestrant for the treatment of HR+, HER2-negative advanced or metastatic breast cancer that has progressed after endocrine therapy.

The approval was, in part, based on data from the MONARCH-2 trial, which showed consistent overall survival benefits with the combination.

MonarchE, on the other hand, examined the impact of abemaciclib in the first-line adjuvant setting, enrolling patients with HR+, HER2-negative, node-positive early breast cancer who had a tumor size of ≥5 cm, histologic grade 3 disease, and/or Ki67 index of ≥20%.

They were randomly assigned in a 1:1 fashion to abemaciclib 150 mg twice daily for up to 2 years plus standard of care endocrine therapy or standard of care endocrine therapy alone.

The choice of endocrine therapy was left to the physician and was continued for 5-10 years, as clinically indicated.

The trial included 5,637 patients. An efficacy interim analysis was planned for when 75% of the estimated invasive disease-free survival events had occurred, which equated to 323 events in the intention-to-treat population.

This occurred after approximately 15.5 months of follow-up in each arm, when 12.5% of patients had completed the 2-year treatment period, leaving 70% still in treatment.

The intention-to-treat population included 2,808 patients from the abemaciclib plus endocrine therapy group and 2,829 in the group taking endocrine therapy alone.

The two groups were well balanced in terms of their baseline characteristics. The vast majority (approximately 85%) of patients were younger than 65 years, and 56.5% were postmenopausal.

Also, 37% had previously received neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and approximately 58% had adjuvant chemotherapy.

Distant relapse-free survival was significantly reduced with abemaciclib plus endocrine therapy vs endocrine therapy alone, at a hazard ratio of 0.72 (P = .0085), and a 2-year rate of 93.6% and 90.3%, respectively.

Johnston highlighted that not only was the number of patients with distant recurrences reduced with the combination therapy, at 92 vs 142 with endocrine therapy alone, but also the reductions were in key locations.

The number of patients with recurrences in the bone were 32 with abemaciclib and 81 with endocrine therapy alone; 29 patients with abemaciclib and 42 with endocrine therapy alone had recurrences in the liver.

The results show that the most frequent adverse events in the abemaciclib arm were diarrhea (82%), neutropenia (45%), and fatigue (38%), whereas arthralgia (31%), hot flush (21%), and fatigue (15%) were seen most often in the control group.

Venous thromboembolic events were recorded in 2.3% of patients in the abemaciclib group versus 0.5% of those on endocrine therapy alone; interstitial lung disease was seen in 2.7% and 1.2%, respectively.

Despite the protocol allowing dose reductions from 150 mg to 100 mg twice daily if required, 463 (16.6%) patients discontinued abemaciclib as a result of adverse events. Of those, 306 continued on endocrine therapy.

“Adherence to treatment will be an important issue to be considered in the real-life population of patients when this treatment is approved and used in clinical practice,” Johnston said.

Nevertheless, diarrhea frequency and severity decreased significantly over time, and only 4.8% of the abemaciclib group discontinued use as a result of this adverse event.
 

Questions remain

George W. Sledge Jr, MD, professor of medicine (oncology) at Stanford University Medical Center, Palo Alto, California, was the invited discussant after the presentation.

He said that “positive trials raise as many questions as they answer, and monarchE is no exception.”

For example, there is the conundrum posed by the negative results of the very similar PALLAS trial, which looked at the addition of palbociclib to adjuvant endocrine therapy for HR+, HER2-negative early breast cancer and was also presented at the ESMO meeting.

Returning to monarchE, Sledge asked what the ultimate increase in invasive disease- and distant relapse-free survival will be with the drug combination, noting that the trial has “very, very short follow-up.”

“Second, will the improvements seen in disease-free survival lead to what we really care about: improved overall survival? Again, time will tell, but health care systems and patients care deeply about the answer to this question.”

Sledge continued: “How about late recurrence? Do CDK4/6 inhibitors kill off dormant or slow-growing micro-mets that lead to recurrences 5 or more years out?”

He also asked what the optimum duration of therapy would be: “Is it more than we need, or not enough?”

Sledge wondered whether it is possible to determine who benefits “and why the drug fails some patients.”

Finally, Sledge said, “These drugs are expensive. ... 2 years of adjuvant therapy is simply out of reach for the majority of patients around the globe who might be candidates for adjuvant CDK4/6 inhibitor therapy.”

And he observed an important truism: “A patient cannot benefit from a drug she cannot take.”

The study was funded by Eli Lilly. Johnston, Sledge, and Curigliano have financial ties to Eli Lilly and multiple other drug companies.
 

This article first appeared on Medscape.com.

KRAS, one of the most frequently mutated oncogenes in human cancer, has long been thought to be “undruggable,” but early results from a clinical trial of the experimental KRAS inhibitor sotorasib (Amgen) suggest that at least one KRAS mutation common in non–small cell lung cancers (NSCLC) has a soft underbelly.

In the phase 1 CodeBreaK 100 trial, sotorasib, an investigational first-in-class inhibitor of the KRAS p.G12C mutation, showed encouraging activity against advanced NSCLC and other solid tumors.

Among patients with NSCLC, 19 (32.2%) of 59 had a confirmed objective response to sotorasib monotherapy, and 52 (88.1%) had disease control, reported David S. Hong, MD, from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston.

“Sotorasib also demonstrated durable disease control in heavily pretreated patients with non–small cell lung cancer,” said Dr. Hong.

He presented secondary efficacy endpoint results from the trial in an online presentation during the European Society of Medical Oncology Virtual Congress 2020. The study was also published simultaneously online in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The trial met its primary endpoint of safety of sotorasib, with no dose-limiting toxicities or treatment-related fatal adverse events, and treatment-emergent grade 3 or higher adverse events occurring in less than 20% of patients.

“The safety profile is more favorable than that of other targeted agents, and I think the reason why you have a quite safe compound here is that sotorasib is very specific in its binding to KRAS G12C, and KRAS G12C is only present in the tumor,” coinvestigator Marwan G. Fakih, MD, a medical oncologist at City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center in Duarte, Calif., said in an interview. Fakih was co–lead author of the report in the New England Journal of Medicine.
 

A real “triumph”

Sotorasib is “a triumph of drug discovery,” commented Colin Lindsay, MD, from the University of Manchester (England), the invited discussant.

“We know that KRAS, over many years, over 3 decades, has been very difficult to target,” he said.

“The early development of KRAS G12C–targeted agents is just the beginning, lending hope that the ability to target not only other KRAS mutations but also other targets previously thought to be undruggable may be within reach,” write Patricia M. LoRusso, DO, from the Yale Cancer Center in New Haven, Conn., and Judith S. Sebolt-Leopold, PhD, from the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center, Ann Arbor, in an accompanying editorial.

The KRAS, which stands for Kristen rat sarcoma viral oncogene homologue, p.G12C mutation is a glycine-to-cysteine substitution that results in the oncogene being switched on in its active form. The mutation has been identified in approximately 13% of NSCLC tumors, in 1% to 7% of colorectal cancers, and in other solid tumors.

But the mutation has been considered too difficult to target because of KRAS’ strong binding affinity for guanosine triphosphate (GTP), an essential building block of RNA synthesis, and by a lack of accessible drug binding sites.

Sotorasib is a small-molecule, specific, and irreversible inhibitor of KRAS that interacts with a “pocket” on the gene’s surface that is present only in an inactive conformation of KRAS. The drug inhibits oncogenic signaling and tumorigenesis by preventing cycling of the oncogene into its active form, Dr. Fakih explained.
 

Study details

The CodeBreaK 100 investigators enrolled patients with 13 different locally advanced or metastatic solid tumor types, all bearing the KRAS p.G12C mutation.

The trial began with a dose-escalation phase, with two to four patients per cohort assigned to receive daily oral sotorasib at doses of 180, 360, 720, or 960 mg. The 960 mg dose was selected for expansion cohorts and for planned phase 2 studies, based on the safety profile and the lack of dose-limiting toxicities.

Hong and colleagues reported results for 129 patients treated in the dose-escalation and expansion cohorts, including 59 with NSCLC, 42 with colorectal cancer and 28 with other tumor types, but focused primarily on patients with NSCLC.

After a median follow-up of 11.7 months, 59 patients with NSCLC had been treated, 3 at the 180 mg dose, 16 at 360 mg, 6 at 720 mg, and 34 at 960 mg. At the time of data cutoff in June of this year, 14 patients were still on treatment and 45 had discontinued, either from disease progression (35 patients), death (5), patient request (4) or adverse events (1).

As noted, there were no dose-limiting toxicities or treatment-related fatalities reported.

Grade 3-4 treatment-related adverse events were reported in 18.6% of patients. The only grade 4 treatment-related event was diarrhea, in one patient. Grade 3 events included elevated liver transaminases in nine patients, increased alkaline phosphatase in two, anemia in one, and increased gamma-glutamyl transferase levels, decreased lymphocyte count, hepatitis, and hyponatremia in one patient each.

Dr. Fakih said that, given sotorasib’s high degree of specificity, it’s unclear what might be causing the observed adverse events.
 

Responses at all dose levels

The confirmed partial response rate was 32.2% for patients with NSCLC treated at all dose levels, and 35.3% for patients who received the 960 mg dose.

Among all NSCLC patients, and all treated at the highest 960-mg dose level, the stable disease rates were 55.9%. The respective disease control rates were 88.1% and 91.2%.

Tumor reductions occurred across all dose levels in patients with NSCLC. The median progression-free survival was 6.3 months.

Hong reported results for one patient, a 59-year-old man with the mutation who had experienced disease progression on five prior therapies including targeted agents, chemotherapy, and a checkpoint inhibitor, and had gamma-knife surgery for brain lesions.

This patient had a complete response in target lesions and a partial response overall, which included shrinkage of central nervous system metastases. He recently had progression in non-target lesions, after 1.5 years in response, Dr. Hong said.

The median duration of response was 10.9 months for patients with partial responses and 4 months for patients with stable disease.

Hong noted that response to sotorasib was seen across a range of co-mutational profiles, including several patients with four mutations in addition to KRAS p.G12C.
 

Other tumors, possible combinations

Among 42 patients with colorectal cancers bearing the KRAS p.G12C mutation, 3 (7.1%) had a partial response. There were also partial responses seen in one patient each with melanoma and with appendiceal, endometrial, and pancreatic tumors.

“Overall, the results of this trial are very encouraging, showing the first step in ‘drugging the undruggable,’ ” Dr. LoRusso and Dr. Sebolt-Leopold wrote in their editorial.

They suggested that therapy with sotorasib may be improved by combining it with other agents that could target resistance to KRAS inhibition.

“A recent study showed that KRAS G12C colorectal cancer cells have higher basal epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) activity than NSCLC cells, leading to a rapid rebound in mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase signaling and resistance to KRAS G12C inhibition,” the editorialists wrote. “This observation is consistent with the weaker observed clinical activity of sotorasib in patients with colorectal cancer, a problem that may be addressed by combining it with an EGFR inhibitor [e.g., cetuximab], as seen preclinically.”

“I think this drug is being positioned not only in refractory disease, but we’re hoping to see it move upfront in non–small cell lung cancer, and we’re hoping to improve its efficacy in colorectal cancer,” Dr. Fakih said in an interview.

The study was sponsored by Amgen and by grants from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Hong disclosed research/grant funding and an advisory/consulting role with Amgen and others. Dr. Fakih disclosed a speaking engagement for Amgen and consulting for and grant support from others. Dr. Lindsay disclosed consulting for Amgen and institutional research funding from the company and others. Dr. LoRusso disclosed fees from multiple companies, not including Amgen. Dr. Sebolt-Leopold disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

This article first appeared on Medscape.com.

KRAS, one of the most frequently mutated oncogenes in human cancer, has long been thought to be “undruggable,” but early results from a clinical trial of the experimental KRAS inhibitor sotorasib (Amgen) suggest that at least one KRAS mutation common in non–small cell lung cancers (NSCLC) has a soft underbelly.

In the phase 1 CodeBreaK 100 trial, sotorasib, an investigational first-in-class inhibitor of the KRAS p.G12C mutation, showed encouraging activity against advanced NSCLC and other solid tumors.

Among patients with NSCLC, 19 (32.2%) of 59 had a confirmed objective response to sotorasib monotherapy, and 52 (88.1%) had disease control, reported David S. Hong, MD, from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston.

“Sotorasib also demonstrated durable disease control in heavily pretreated patients with non–small cell lung cancer,” said Dr. Hong.

He presented secondary efficacy endpoint results from the trial in an online presentation during the European Society of Medical Oncology Virtual Congress 2020. The study was also published simultaneously online in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The trial met its primary endpoint of safety of sotorasib, with no dose-limiting toxicities or treatment-related fatal adverse events, and treatment-emergent grade 3 or higher adverse events occurring in less than 20% of patients.

“The safety profile is more favorable than that of other targeted agents, and I think the reason why you have a quite safe compound here is that sotorasib is very specific in its binding to KRAS G12C, and KRAS G12C is only present in the tumor,” coinvestigator Marwan G. Fakih, MD, a medical oncologist at City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center in Duarte, Calif., said in an interview. Fakih was co–lead author of the report in the New England Journal of Medicine.
 

A real “triumph”

Sotorasib is “a triumph of drug discovery,” commented Colin Lindsay, MD, from the University of Manchester (England), the invited discussant.

“We know that KRAS, over many years, over 3 decades, has been very difficult to target,” he said.

“The early development of KRAS G12C–targeted agents is just the beginning, lending hope that the ability to target not only other KRAS mutations but also other targets previously thought to be undruggable may be within reach,” write Patricia M. LoRusso, DO, from the Yale Cancer Center in New Haven, Conn., and Judith S. Sebolt-Leopold, PhD, from the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center, Ann Arbor, in an accompanying editorial.

The KRAS, which stands for Kristen rat sarcoma viral oncogene homologue, p.G12C mutation is a glycine-to-cysteine substitution that results in the oncogene being switched on in its active form. The mutation has been identified in approximately 13% of NSCLC tumors, in 1% to 7% of colorectal cancers, and in other solid tumors.

But the mutation has been considered too difficult to target because of KRAS’ strong binding affinity for guanosine triphosphate (GTP), an essential building block of RNA synthesis, and by a lack of accessible drug binding sites.

Sotorasib is a small-molecule, specific, and irreversible inhibitor of KRAS that interacts with a “pocket” on the gene’s surface that is present only in an inactive conformation of KRAS. The drug inhibits oncogenic signaling and tumorigenesis by preventing cycling of the oncogene into its active form, Dr. Fakih explained.
 

Study details

The CodeBreaK 100 investigators enrolled patients with 13 different locally advanced or metastatic solid tumor types, all bearing the KRAS p.G12C mutation.

The trial began with a dose-escalation phase, with two to four patients per cohort assigned to receive daily oral sotorasib at doses of 180, 360, 720, or 960 mg. The 960 mg dose was selected for expansion cohorts and for planned phase 2 studies, based on the safety profile and the lack of dose-limiting toxicities.

Hong and colleagues reported results for 129 patients treated in the dose-escalation and expansion cohorts, including 59 with NSCLC, 42 with colorectal cancer and 28 with other tumor types, but focused primarily on patients with NSCLC.

After a median follow-up of 11.7 months, 59 patients with NSCLC had been treated, 3 at the 180 mg dose, 16 at 360 mg, 6 at 720 mg, and 34 at 960 mg. At the time of data cutoff in June of this year, 14 patients were still on treatment and 45 had discontinued, either from disease progression (35 patients), death (5), patient request (4) or adverse events (1).

As noted, there were no dose-limiting toxicities or treatment-related fatalities reported.

Grade 3-4 treatment-related adverse events were reported in 18.6% of patients. The only grade 4 treatment-related event was diarrhea, in one patient. Grade 3 events included elevated liver transaminases in nine patients, increased alkaline phosphatase in two, anemia in one, and increased gamma-glutamyl transferase levels, decreased lymphocyte count, hepatitis, and hyponatremia in one patient each.

Dr. Fakih said that, given sotorasib’s high degree of specificity, it’s unclear what might be causing the observed adverse events.
 

Responses at all dose levels

The confirmed partial response rate was 32.2% for patients with NSCLC treated at all dose levels, and 35.3% for patients who received the 960 mg dose.

Among all NSCLC patients, and all treated at the highest 960-mg dose level, the stable disease rates were 55.9%. The respective disease control rates were 88.1% and 91.2%.

Tumor reductions occurred across all dose levels in patients with NSCLC. The median progression-free survival was 6.3 months.

Hong reported results for one patient, a 59-year-old man with the mutation who had experienced disease progression on five prior therapies including targeted agents, chemotherapy, and a checkpoint inhibitor, and had gamma-knife surgery for brain lesions.

This patient had a complete response in target lesions and a partial response overall, which included shrinkage of central nervous system metastases. He recently had progression in non-target lesions, after 1.5 years in response, Dr. Hong said.

The median duration of response was 10.9 months for patients with partial responses and 4 months for patients with stable disease.

Hong noted that response to sotorasib was seen across a range of co-mutational profiles, including several patients with four mutations in addition to KRAS p.G12C.
 

Other tumors, possible combinations

Among 42 patients with colorectal cancers bearing the KRAS p.G12C mutation, 3 (7.1%) had a partial response. There were also partial responses seen in one patient each with melanoma and with appendiceal, endometrial, and pancreatic tumors.

“Overall, the results of this trial are very encouraging, showing the first step in ‘drugging the undruggable,’ ” Dr. LoRusso and Dr. Sebolt-Leopold wrote in their editorial.

They suggested that therapy with sotorasib may be improved by combining it with other agents that could target resistance to KRAS inhibition.

“A recent study showed that KRAS G12C colorectal cancer cells have higher basal epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) activity than NSCLC cells, leading to a rapid rebound in mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase signaling and resistance to KRAS G12C inhibition,” the editorialists wrote. “This observation is consistent with the weaker observed clinical activity of sotorasib in patients with colorectal cancer, a problem that may be addressed by combining it with an EGFR inhibitor [e.g., cetuximab], as seen preclinically.”

“I think this drug is being positioned not only in refractory disease, but we’re hoping to see it move upfront in non–small cell lung cancer, and we’re hoping to improve its efficacy in colorectal cancer,” Dr. Fakih said in an interview.

The study was sponsored by Amgen and by grants from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Hong disclosed research/grant funding and an advisory/consulting role with Amgen and others. Dr. Fakih disclosed a speaking engagement for Amgen and consulting for and grant support from others. Dr. Lindsay disclosed consulting for Amgen and institutional research funding from the company and others. Dr. LoRusso disclosed fees from multiple companies, not including Amgen. Dr. Sebolt-Leopold disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

This article first appeared on Medscape.com.

KRAS, one of the most frequently mutated oncogenes in human cancer, has long been thought to be “undruggable,” but early results from a clinical trial of the experimental KRAS inhibitor sotorasib (Amgen) suggest that at least one KRAS mutation common in non–small cell lung cancers (NSCLC) has a soft underbelly.

In the phase 1 CodeBreaK 100 trial, sotorasib, an investigational first-in-class inhibitor of the KRAS p.G12C mutation, showed encouraging activity against advanced NSCLC and other solid tumors.

Among patients with NSCLC, 19 (32.2%) of 59 had a confirmed objective response to sotorasib monotherapy, and 52 (88.1%) had disease control, reported David S. Hong, MD, from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston.

“Sotorasib also demonstrated durable disease control in heavily pretreated patients with non–small cell lung cancer,” said Dr. Hong.

He presented secondary efficacy endpoint results from the trial in an online presentation during the European Society of Medical Oncology Virtual Congress 2020. The study was also published simultaneously online in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The trial met its primary endpoint of safety of sotorasib, with no dose-limiting toxicities or treatment-related fatal adverse events, and treatment-emergent grade 3 or higher adverse events occurring in less than 20% of patients.

“The safety profile is more favorable than that of other targeted agents, and I think the reason why you have a quite safe compound here is that sotorasib is very specific in its binding to KRAS G12C, and KRAS G12C is only present in the tumor,” coinvestigator Marwan G. Fakih, MD, a medical oncologist at City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center in Duarte, Calif., said in an interview. Fakih was co–lead author of the report in the New England Journal of Medicine.
 

A real “triumph”

Sotorasib is “a triumph of drug discovery,” commented Colin Lindsay, MD, from the University of Manchester (England), the invited discussant.

“We know that KRAS, over many years, over 3 decades, has been very difficult to target,” he said.

“The early development of KRAS G12C–targeted agents is just the beginning, lending hope that the ability to target not only other KRAS mutations but also other targets previously thought to be undruggable may be within reach,” write Patricia M. LoRusso, DO, from the Yale Cancer Center in New Haven, Conn., and Judith S. Sebolt-Leopold, PhD, from the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center, Ann Arbor, in an accompanying editorial.

The KRAS, which stands for Kristen rat sarcoma viral oncogene homologue, p.G12C mutation is a glycine-to-cysteine substitution that results in the oncogene being switched on in its active form. The mutation has been identified in approximately 13% of NSCLC tumors, in 1% to 7% of colorectal cancers, and in other solid tumors.

But the mutation has been considered too difficult to target because of KRAS’ strong binding affinity for guanosine triphosphate (GTP), an essential building block of RNA synthesis, and by a lack of accessible drug binding sites.

Sotorasib is a small-molecule, specific, and irreversible inhibitor of KRAS that interacts with a “pocket” on the gene’s surface that is present only in an inactive conformation of KRAS. The drug inhibits oncogenic signaling and tumorigenesis by preventing cycling of the oncogene into its active form, Dr. Fakih explained.
 

Study details

The CodeBreaK 100 investigators enrolled patients with 13 different locally advanced or metastatic solid tumor types, all bearing the KRAS p.G12C mutation.

The trial began with a dose-escalation phase, with two to four patients per cohort assigned to receive daily oral sotorasib at doses of 180, 360, 720, or 960 mg. The 960 mg dose was selected for expansion cohorts and for planned phase 2 studies, based on the safety profile and the lack of dose-limiting toxicities.

Hong and colleagues reported results for 129 patients treated in the dose-escalation and expansion cohorts, including 59 with NSCLC, 42 with colorectal cancer and 28 with other tumor types, but focused primarily on patients with NSCLC.

After a median follow-up of 11.7 months, 59 patients with NSCLC had been treated, 3 at the 180 mg dose, 16 at 360 mg, 6 at 720 mg, and 34 at 960 mg. At the time of data cutoff in June of this year, 14 patients were still on treatment and 45 had discontinued, either from disease progression (35 patients), death (5), patient request (4) or adverse events (1).

As noted, there were no dose-limiting toxicities or treatment-related fatalities reported.

Grade 3-4 treatment-related adverse events were reported in 18.6% of patients. The only grade 4 treatment-related event was diarrhea, in one patient. Grade 3 events included elevated liver transaminases in nine patients, increased alkaline phosphatase in two, anemia in one, and increased gamma-glutamyl transferase levels, decreased lymphocyte count, hepatitis, and hyponatremia in one patient each.

Dr. Fakih said that, given sotorasib’s high degree of specificity, it’s unclear what might be causing the observed adverse events.
 

Responses at all dose levels

The confirmed partial response rate was 32.2% for patients with NSCLC treated at all dose levels, and 35.3% for patients who received the 960 mg dose.

Among all NSCLC patients, and all treated at the highest 960-mg dose level, the stable disease rates were 55.9%. The respective disease control rates were 88.1% and 91.2%.

Tumor reductions occurred across all dose levels in patients with NSCLC. The median progression-free survival was 6.3 months.

Hong reported results for one patient, a 59-year-old man with the mutation who had experienced disease progression on five prior therapies including targeted agents, chemotherapy, and a checkpoint inhibitor, and had gamma-knife surgery for brain lesions.

This patient had a complete response in target lesions and a partial response overall, which included shrinkage of central nervous system metastases. He recently had progression in non-target lesions, after 1.5 years in response, Dr. Hong said.

The median duration of response was 10.9 months for patients with partial responses and 4 months for patients with stable disease.

Hong noted that response to sotorasib was seen across a range of co-mutational profiles, including several patients with four mutations in addition to KRAS p.G12C.
 

Other tumors, possible combinations

Among 42 patients with colorectal cancers bearing the KRAS p.G12C mutation, 3 (7.1%) had a partial response. There were also partial responses seen in one patient each with melanoma and with appendiceal, endometrial, and pancreatic tumors.

“Overall, the results of this trial are very encouraging, showing the first step in ‘drugging the undruggable,’ ” Dr. LoRusso and Dr. Sebolt-Leopold wrote in their editorial.

They suggested that therapy with sotorasib may be improved by combining it with other agents that could target resistance to KRAS inhibition.

“A recent study showed that KRAS G12C colorectal cancer cells have higher basal epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) activity than NSCLC cells, leading to a rapid rebound in mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase signaling and resistance to KRAS G12C inhibition,” the editorialists wrote. “This observation is consistent with the weaker observed clinical activity of sotorasib in patients with colorectal cancer, a problem that may be addressed by combining it with an EGFR inhibitor [e.g., cetuximab], as seen preclinically.”

“I think this drug is being positioned not only in refractory disease, but we’re hoping to see it move upfront in non–small cell lung cancer, and we’re hoping to improve its efficacy in colorectal cancer,” Dr. Fakih said in an interview.

The study was sponsored by Amgen and by grants from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Hong disclosed research/grant funding and an advisory/consulting role with Amgen and others. Dr. Fakih disclosed a speaking engagement for Amgen and consulting for and grant support from others. Dr. Lindsay disclosed consulting for Amgen and institutional research funding from the company and others. Dr. LoRusso disclosed fees from multiple companies, not including Amgen. Dr. Sebolt-Leopold disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

This article first appeared on Medscape.com.

Promoting to the front line two drugs normally used in rearguard action to treat advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) – nivolumab (Opdivo) and cabozantinib (Cabometyx) – doubled overall response rates and progression-free survival (PFS) and significantly improved overall survival (OS), compared with first-line sunitinib (Sutent), investigators in the Checkmate 9ER trial reported.

Median PFS among patients with advanced RCC, which was the trial’s primary endpoint, was 16.6 months with nivolumab plus cabozantinib, compared with 8.3 months with sunitinib, translating into a hazard ratio of 0.51 for the combination (P < .0001). The median follow-up was 18.1 months.

Median OS had not been reached in either arm at the time of data cutoff, but the survival curves at the time of the analysis clearly favored nivolumab-cabozatinib, with an HR for death of .060 (P = .0010), said Tony K. Choueri, MD, from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

“With expanding options in our patients with advanced RCC, the overall efficacy, safety, and quality-of-life benefit, as well as individual patient characteristics, are very important considerations when you select appropriate therapy,” he said in a press briefing prior to his presentation of the data in a presidential symposium at the European Society of Medical Oncology Virtual Congress 2020.

Although the nivolumab-cabozantinib combination therapy looks good, it’s late to the game, commented Dominik Berthold, MD, from the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Lausanne, Switzerland, the invited discussant for the briefing.

“The question is, what’s the only drawback of this trial? It’s probably the fact that it’s not first in class in this situation,” he said.

Dr. Berthold noted that nivolumab-cabozantinib, if approved for the frontline setting, will join the combination of the tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) axitinib (Inlyta) plus pembrolizumab (Keytruda), which, as previously reported, was associated with a nearly 50% reduction in the risk for death in the KEYNOTE-426 trial. This combination was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the frontline setting in April 2019.

As shown in the CheckMate-214 study, the combination of the programmed cell death protein–1 (PD-1) inhibitor nivolumab with the CTLA-4 inhibitor ipilimumab (Yervoy) was associated with significantly higher objective response rates and OS rates compared with sunitinib. This combination was approved by the FDA in April 2018 as first-line therapy for patients with advanced intermediate- or poor-risk RCC.
 

CheckMate 9ER details

A total of 651 patients with previously untreated advanced or metastatic RCC that had a clear cell component in all International Metastatic RCC Database Consortium risk groups were enrolled and randomly assigned to receive either intravenous nivolumab at 240 mg every 2 weeks plus oral cabozantinib at 40 mg daily or oral sunitinib at 50 mg daily in cycles of 4 weeks on therapy/2 weeks off therapy. Patients were treated until disease progression or unacceptable toxicities occurred.

The primary PFS endpoint and the secondary OS endpoint both favored the combination, as did the objective response rate, which was 55.7% with nivolumab-cabozantinib versus 27.1% with sunitinib (P < .0001).

Complete responses were seen in 8% of patients who received the combination versus 4.6% with the patients who received sunitinib. Partial responses were seen in 47.7% and 22.6%, respectively.

Patients generally tolerated the combination. The incidence of the most common high-grade treatment-emergent adverse events and other adverse events of any grade was similar to that seen with sunitinib, Dr. Choueri said.

The rates of treatment-related events that led to discontinuation was 3.1% among patients who received the combination, 5.6% among patients who received the nivolumab component only, and 6.6% among patients who received cabozantinib only. It was 8.8% among patients who received sunitinib. More than 50% of patients in the combination arm needed a dose reduction of nivolumab-cabozantinib because of adverse events, however.

“Overall, it seems that the combination has a somewhat manageable safety profile in patients with advanced RCC,” Dr. Choueri said.

Patient-reported quality of life, as measured by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network/Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–Kidney Symptom Index 19 total score, was an exploratory endpoint. It was maintained over time with the combination but deteriorated over time with sunitinib, with statistically significant differences between the study arms at most time points to 91 weeks, he reported.
 

Making choices

Dr. Berthold acknowledged the benefit that having an additional therapy offers clinicians and patients.

“What we still need to learn here is, ‘Are there any patient populations who may benefit more on this combination compared with other combinations?’ ” he said. “Cabozantinib is quite a unique TKI which may target better bone metastases, for example, so I think there are things we need to learn from further data and longer follow-up.”

Camillo Porta, MD, from the University of Bari (Italy), the invited discussant for the presidential symposium, urged caution in comparing the three regimens, owing to differences in the drug used, study endpoints, baseline patient characteristics, and the distribution of patients among different prognostic groups.

When it comes to deciding between frontline regimens, “the only possible, though highly empiric, driver of our therapeutical choice should be the biological aggressiveness of the tumor,” he said.

For patients with highly aggressive disease, the use of an immune checkpoint inhibitor plus a vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR)–directed TKI may help control disease long enough to give the checkpoint inhibitor time to work.

“Otherwise, one could head for the long-term benefit of the immune combo as well as for complete responses, trying to spare [patients] the additional toxicities deriving from the continuous use of the VEGFR TKI,” he added.

Dr. Porta noted that when considering the trade-off between efficacy and safety in the first-line setting, many patients are willing to accept more toxicities in exchange for clinical benefit.

The study was sponsored by Bristol-Myers Squibb. Dr. Choueri disclosed consultancy fees, advisory board activity, manuscript preparation, travel/lodging, honoraria, and grants for clinical trials from BMS and others. Dr. Berthold disclosed an advisory role for Ipsen, BMS, Merck, and Pfizer. Dr. Porta disclosed advisory/consulting activities and speakers bureau participation for BMS and others.

This article first appeared on Medscape.com.

Promoting to the front line two drugs normally used in rearguard action to treat advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) – nivolumab (Opdivo) and cabozantinib (Cabometyx) – doubled overall response rates and progression-free survival (PFS) and significantly improved overall survival (OS), compared with first-line sunitinib (Sutent), investigators in the Checkmate 9ER trial reported.

Median PFS among patients with advanced RCC, which was the trial’s primary endpoint, was 16.6 months with nivolumab plus cabozantinib, compared with 8.3 months with sunitinib, translating into a hazard ratio of 0.51 for the combination (P < .0001). The median follow-up was 18.1 months.

Median OS had not been reached in either arm at the time of data cutoff, but the survival curves at the time of the analysis clearly favored nivolumab-cabozatinib, with an HR for death of .060 (P = .0010), said Tony K. Choueri, MD, from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

“With expanding options in our patients with advanced RCC, the overall efficacy, safety, and quality-of-life benefit, as well as individual patient characteristics, are very important considerations when you select appropriate therapy,” he said in a press briefing prior to his presentation of the data in a presidential symposium at the European Society of Medical Oncology Virtual Congress 2020.

Although the nivolumab-cabozantinib combination therapy looks good, it’s late to the game, commented Dominik Berthold, MD, from the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Lausanne, Switzerland, the invited discussant for the briefing.

“The question is, what’s the only drawback of this trial? It’s probably the fact that it’s not first in class in this situation,” he said.

Dr. Berthold noted that nivolumab-cabozantinib, if approved for the frontline setting, will join the combination of the tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) axitinib (Inlyta) plus pembrolizumab (Keytruda), which, as previously reported, was associated with a nearly 50% reduction in the risk for death in the KEYNOTE-426 trial. This combination was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the frontline setting in April 2019.

As shown in the CheckMate-214 study, the combination of the programmed cell death protein–1 (PD-1) inhibitor nivolumab with the CTLA-4 inhibitor ipilimumab (Yervoy) was associated with significantly higher objective response rates and OS rates compared with sunitinib. This combination was approved by the FDA in April 2018 as first-line therapy for patients with advanced intermediate- or poor-risk RCC.
 

CheckMate 9ER details

A total of 651 patients with previously untreated advanced or metastatic RCC that had a clear cell component in all International Metastatic RCC Database Consortium risk groups were enrolled and randomly assigned to receive either intravenous nivolumab at 240 mg every 2 weeks plus oral cabozantinib at 40 mg daily or oral sunitinib at 50 mg daily in cycles of 4 weeks on therapy/2 weeks off therapy. Patients were treated until disease progression or unacceptable toxicities occurred.

The primary PFS endpoint and the secondary OS endpoint both favored the combination, as did the objective response rate, which was 55.7% with nivolumab-cabozantinib versus 27.1% with sunitinib (P < .0001).

Complete responses were seen in 8% of patients who received the combination versus 4.6% with the patients who received sunitinib. Partial responses were seen in 47.7% and 22.6%, respectively.

Patients generally tolerated the combination. The incidence of the most common high-grade treatment-emergent adverse events and other adverse events of any grade was similar to that seen with sunitinib, Dr. Choueri said.

The rates of treatment-related events that led to discontinuation was 3.1% among patients who received the combination, 5.6% among patients who received the nivolumab component only, and 6.6% among patients who received cabozantinib only. It was 8.8% among patients who received sunitinib. More than 50% of patients in the combination arm needed a dose reduction of nivolumab-cabozantinib because of adverse events, however.

“Overall, it seems that the combination has a somewhat manageable safety profile in patients with advanced RCC,” Dr. Choueri said.

Patient-reported quality of life, as measured by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network/Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–Kidney Symptom Index 19 total score, was an exploratory endpoint. It was maintained over time with the combination but deteriorated over time with sunitinib, with statistically significant differences between the study arms at most time points to 91 weeks, he reported.
 

Making choices

Dr. Berthold acknowledged the benefit that having an additional therapy offers clinicians and patients.

“What we still need to learn here is, ‘Are there any patient populations who may benefit more on this combination compared with other combinations?’ ” he said. “Cabozantinib is quite a unique TKI which may target better bone metastases, for example, so I think there are things we need to learn from further data and longer follow-up.”

Camillo Porta, MD, from the University of Bari (Italy), the invited discussant for the presidential symposium, urged caution in comparing the three regimens, owing to differences in the drug used, study endpoints, baseline patient characteristics, and the distribution of patients among different prognostic groups.

When it comes to deciding between frontline regimens, “the only possible, though highly empiric, driver of our therapeutical choice should be the biological aggressiveness of the tumor,” he said.

For patients with highly aggressive disease, the use of an immune checkpoint inhibitor plus a vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR)–directed TKI may help control disease long enough to give the checkpoint inhibitor time to work.

“Otherwise, one could head for the long-term benefit of the immune combo as well as for complete responses, trying to spare [patients] the additional toxicities deriving from the continuous use of the VEGFR TKI,” he added.

Dr. Porta noted that when considering the trade-off between efficacy and safety in the first-line setting, many patients are willing to accept more toxicities in exchange for clinical benefit.

The study was sponsored by Bristol-Myers Squibb. Dr. Choueri disclosed consultancy fees, advisory board activity, manuscript preparation, travel/lodging, honoraria, and grants for clinical trials from BMS and others. Dr. Berthold disclosed an advisory role for Ipsen, BMS, Merck, and Pfizer. Dr. Porta disclosed advisory/consulting activities and speakers bureau participation for BMS and others.

This article first appeared on Medscape.com.

Promoting to the front line two drugs normally used in rearguard action to treat advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) – nivolumab (Opdivo) and cabozantinib (Cabometyx) – doubled overall response rates and progression-free survival (PFS) and significantly improved overall survival (OS), compared with first-line sunitinib (Sutent), investigators in the Checkmate 9ER trial reported.

Median PFS among patients with advanced RCC, which was the trial’s primary endpoint, was 16.6 months with nivolumab plus cabozantinib, compared with 8.3 months with sunitinib, translating into a hazard ratio of 0.51 for the combination (P < .0001). The median follow-up was 18.1 months.

Median OS had not been reached in either arm at the time of data cutoff, but the survival curves at the time of the analysis clearly favored nivolumab-cabozatinib, with an HR for death of .060 (P = .0010), said Tony K. Choueri, MD, from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

“With expanding options in our patients with advanced RCC, the overall efficacy, safety, and quality-of-life benefit, as well as individual patient characteristics, are very important considerations when you select appropriate therapy,” he said in a press briefing prior to his presentation of the data in a presidential symposium at the European Society of Medical Oncology Virtual Congress 2020.

Although the nivolumab-cabozantinib combination therapy looks good, it’s late to the game, commented Dominik Berthold, MD, from the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Lausanne, Switzerland, the invited discussant for the briefing.

“The question is, what’s the only drawback of this trial? It’s probably the fact that it’s not first in class in this situation,” he said.

Dr. Berthold noted that nivolumab-cabozantinib, if approved for the frontline setting, will join the combination of the tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) axitinib (Inlyta) plus pembrolizumab (Keytruda), which, as previously reported, was associated with a nearly 50% reduction in the risk for death in the KEYNOTE-426 trial. This combination was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the frontline setting in April 2019.

As shown in the CheckMate-214 study, the combination of the programmed cell death protein–1 (PD-1) inhibitor nivolumab with the CTLA-4 inhibitor ipilimumab (Yervoy) was associated with significantly higher objective response rates and OS rates compared with sunitinib. This combination was approved by the FDA in April 2018 as first-line therapy for patients with advanced intermediate- or poor-risk RCC.
 

CheckMate 9ER details

A total of 651 patients with previously untreated advanced or metastatic RCC that had a clear cell component in all International Metastatic RCC Database Consortium risk groups were enrolled and randomly assigned to receive either intravenous nivolumab at 240 mg every 2 weeks plus oral cabozantinib at 40 mg daily or oral sunitinib at 50 mg daily in cycles of 4 weeks on therapy/2 weeks off therapy. Patients were treated until disease progression or unacceptable toxicities occurred.

The primary PFS endpoint and the secondary OS endpoint both favored the combination, as did the objective response rate, which was 55.7% with nivolumab-cabozantinib versus 27.1% with sunitinib (P < .0001).

Complete responses were seen in 8% of patients who received the combination versus 4.6% with the patients who received sunitinib. Partial responses were seen in 47.7% and 22.6%, respectively.

Patients generally tolerated the combination. The incidence of the most common high-grade treatment-emergent adverse events and other adverse events of any grade was similar to that seen with sunitinib, Dr. Choueri said.

The rates of treatment-related events that led to discontinuation was 3.1% among patients who received the combination, 5.6% among patients who received the nivolumab component only, and 6.6% among patients who received cabozantinib only. It was 8.8% among patients who received sunitinib. More than 50% of patients in the combination arm needed a dose reduction of nivolumab-cabozantinib because of adverse events, however.

“Overall, it seems that the combination has a somewhat manageable safety profile in patients with advanced RCC,” Dr. Choueri said.

Patient-reported quality of life, as measured by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network/Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–Kidney Symptom Index 19 total score, was an exploratory endpoint. It was maintained over time with the combination but deteriorated over time with sunitinib, with statistically significant differences between the study arms at most time points to 91 weeks, he reported.
 

Making choices

Dr. Berthold acknowledged the benefit that having an additional therapy offers clinicians and patients.

“What we still need to learn here is, ‘Are there any patient populations who may benefit more on this combination compared with other combinations?’ ” he said. “Cabozantinib is quite a unique TKI which may target better bone metastases, for example, so I think there are things we need to learn from further data and longer follow-up.”

Camillo Porta, MD, from the University of Bari (Italy), the invited discussant for the presidential symposium, urged caution in comparing the three regimens, owing to differences in the drug used, study endpoints, baseline patient characteristics, and the distribution of patients among different prognostic groups.

When it comes to deciding between frontline regimens, “the only possible, though highly empiric, driver of our therapeutical choice should be the biological aggressiveness of the tumor,” he said.

For patients with highly aggressive disease, the use of an immune checkpoint inhibitor plus a vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR)–directed TKI may help control disease long enough to give the checkpoint inhibitor time to work.

“Otherwise, one could head for the long-term benefit of the immune combo as well as for complete responses, trying to spare [patients] the additional toxicities deriving from the continuous use of the VEGFR TKI,” he added.

Dr. Porta noted that when considering the trade-off between efficacy and safety in the first-line setting, many patients are willing to accept more toxicities in exchange for clinical benefit.

The study was sponsored by Bristol-Myers Squibb. Dr. Choueri disclosed consultancy fees, advisory board activity, manuscript preparation, travel/lodging, honoraria, and grants for clinical trials from BMS and others. Dr. Berthold disclosed an advisory role for Ipsen, BMS, Merck, and Pfizer. Dr. Porta disclosed advisory/consulting activities and speakers bureau participation for BMS and others.

This article first appeared on Medscape.com.

First-line lorlatinib significantly prolonged progression-free survival (PFS) when compared with crizotinib in advanced ALK-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to an interim analysis of the phase 3 CROWN trial.

Lorlatinib also produced a higher overall and intracranial response rate, prolonging progression to CNS disease.

These findings “support the use of lorlatinib as a highly effective first-line therapy for patients with advanced ALK-positive NSCLC,” said Benjamin Solomon, MBBS, PhD, of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne.

“The CROWN study clearly establishes lorlatinib as another option” among other first-line ALK inhibitors, Dr. Solomon said when presenting the findings at the European Society for Medical Oncology Virtual Congress 2020.

“We now have multiple options for first-line treatment of patients with ALK-positive lung cancer,” noted study discussant Christine Lovly, MD, PhD, a medical oncologist and associate professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn.

The question now, she said, is how to choose among these options. The drugs have all bested crizotinib in trials but haven’t gone head to head against one another.
 

Lorlatinib and CROWN

Lorlatinib is currently approved in the United States to treat ALK-positive metastatic NSCLC that has progressed on crizotinib and at least one other ALK inhibitor. Lorlatinib was granted accelerated approval for this indication based on response rate and duration.

The CROWN study was intended to support the conversion to full approval, according to Pfizer, which is developing both lorlatinib and crizotinib. Pfizer also plans to use the results of CROWN to seek a first-line indication for lorlatinib in NSCLC.

CROWN enrolled 296 patients with stage IIIB/IV ALK-positive NSCLC who had received no prior systemic treatment. Patients with asymptomatic treated or untreated CNS metastases were eligible.

There were 149 patients randomized to lorlatinib at 100 mg daily and 147 randomized to crizotinib at 250 mg twice daily. Five patients in the crizotinib arm were included in the analysis but were not treated, Dr. Solomon said.

The median age was 61 years in the lorlatinib arm and 56 years in the crizotinib arm. Nearly all patients were White (48% in the lorlatinib arm and 49% in the crizotinib arm) or Asian (44% in both arms). A majority of patients were women (56% in the lorlatinib arm and 62% in the crizotinib arm), and more than half said they never smoked (54% in the lorlatinib arm and 64% in the crizotinib arm).
 

Response and PFS

According to blinded independent central review, the objective response rate was 76% with lorlatinib (113/149) and 58% with crizotinib (85/147). There were four complete responses with lorlatinib and none with crizotinib.

Among patients who had measurable or nonmeasurable brain metastases at baseline, the intracranial ORR was 66% with lorlatinib (25/38) and 20% (8/40) with crizotinib. In patients with only measurable brain metastases at baseline, the intracranial ORR was 82% with lorlatinib (14/17) and 23% with crizotinib (3/13).

The 12-month PFS rate was 78% in the lorlatinib arm and 39% in the crizotinib arm. The median PFS was 9.3 months in the crizotinib arm but was not reached in the lorlatinib arm, which “corresponded to a 72% reduction in the risk of death or progression [hazard ratio, 0.21; P < .001],” Dr. Solomon said.

“[T]he PFS for alectinib in the first line is approximately 3 years,” Dr. Lovly noted. “We anxiously await additional data for lorlatinib to see how long the PFS will be.”

The median time to intracranial progression was 16.6 months in the crizotinib arm but was not reached in the lorlatinib arm (HR, 0.07; P < .001).

“These data indicate the ability of lorlatinib not only to delay the progression of existing brain metastases, but also to prevent the development of new brain metastases,” Dr. Solomon said.

Dr. Lovly noted that the efficacy of lorlatinib in the brain is “quite compelling,” but other ALK inhibitors have demonstrated similar results.

As for overall survival, the data are still immature. The median overall survival was not reached with lorlatinib or crizotinib (HR, 0.72).
 

Toxicity

Dr. Solomon noted that lorlatinib “does have a different toxicity profile, compared to other ALK inhibitors.” Specifically, lorlatinib is associated with hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglyceridemia, which have not been seen with other ALK inhibitors.

Lorlatinib is also associated with neurocognitive problems, including inattention, memory impairment, and mild confusion. Mood effects include emotional lability – “someone watching a movie might burst into tears when they wouldn’t have otherwise,” Dr. Solomon said – as well as anxiety and depression.

“So it’s important to tell not just the patient but their family about these things so that they identify when [the events] happen,” Dr. Solomon said. “That’s key because [the events are] completely reversible when you stop the drug. With dose interruption, those effects will resolve.”

Other adverse events that were more common with lorlatinib (a 10% or greater difference in frequency from crizotinib) included edema, weight gain, and peripheral neuropathy. Diarrhea, nausea, fatigue, vision disorders, constipation, and increased liver enzymes were more common with crizotinib. Grade 3-4 adverse events led to discontinuation in fewer than 10% of patients in each arm.

The study was funded by Pfizer, and the investigators included employees. Dr. Solomon is an adviser for Pfizer and other companies, and Dr. Lovly’s industry ties included being both an advisor and speaker for Pfizer.

aotto@mdedge.com

SOURCE: Solomon B et al. ESMO 2020, Abstract LBA2.

First-line lorlatinib significantly prolonged progression-free survival (PFS) when compared with crizotinib in advanced ALK-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to an interim analysis of the phase 3 CROWN trial.

Lorlatinib also produced a higher overall and intracranial response rate, prolonging progression to CNS disease.

These findings “support the use of lorlatinib as a highly effective first-line therapy for patients with advanced ALK-positive NSCLC,” said Benjamin Solomon, MBBS, PhD, of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne.

“The CROWN study clearly establishes lorlatinib as another option” among other first-line ALK inhibitors, Dr. Solomon said when presenting the findings at the European Society for Medical Oncology Virtual Congress 2020.

“We now have multiple options for first-line treatment of patients with ALK-positive lung cancer,” noted study discussant Christine Lovly, MD, PhD, a medical oncologist and associate professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn.

The question now, she said, is how to choose among these options. The drugs have all bested crizotinib in trials but haven’t gone head to head against one another.
 

Lorlatinib and CROWN

Lorlatinib is currently approved in the United States to treat ALK-positive metastatic NSCLC that has progressed on crizotinib and at least one other ALK inhibitor. Lorlatinib was granted accelerated approval for this indication based on response rate and duration.

The CROWN study was intended to support the conversion to full approval, according to Pfizer, which is developing both lorlatinib and crizotinib. Pfizer also plans to use the results of CROWN to seek a first-line indication for lorlatinib in NSCLC.

CROWN enrolled 296 patients with stage IIIB/IV ALK-positive NSCLC who had received no prior systemic treatment. Patients with asymptomatic treated or untreated CNS metastases were eligible.

There were 149 patients randomized to lorlatinib at 100 mg daily and 147 randomized to crizotinib at 250 mg twice daily. Five patients in the crizotinib arm were included in the analysis but were not treated, Dr. Solomon said.

The median age was 61 years in the lorlatinib arm and 56 years in the crizotinib arm. Nearly all patients were White (48% in the lorlatinib arm and 49% in the crizotinib arm) or Asian (44% in both arms). A majority of patients were women (56% in the lorlatinib arm and 62% in the crizotinib arm), and more than half said they never smoked (54% in the lorlatinib arm and 64% in the crizotinib arm).
 

Response and PFS

According to blinded independent central review, the objective response rate was 76% with lorlatinib (113/149) and 58% with crizotinib (85/147). There were four complete responses with lorlatinib and none with crizotinib.

Among patients who had measurable or nonmeasurable brain metastases at baseline, the intracranial ORR was 66% with lorlatinib (25/38) and 20% (8/40) with crizotinib. In patients with only measurable brain metastases at baseline, the intracranial ORR was 82% with lorlatinib (14/17) and 23% with crizotinib (3/13).

The 12-month PFS rate was 78% in the lorlatinib arm and 39% in the crizotinib arm. The median PFS was 9.3 months in the crizotinib arm but was not reached in the lorlatinib arm, which “corresponded to a 72% reduction in the risk of death or progression [hazard ratio, 0.21; P < .001],” Dr. Solomon said.

“[T]he PFS for alectinib in the first line is approximately 3 years,” Dr. Lovly noted. “We anxiously await additional data for lorlatinib to see how long the PFS will be.”

The median time to intracranial progression was 16.6 months in the crizotinib arm but was not reached in the lorlatinib arm (HR, 0.07; P < .001).

“These data indicate the ability of lorlatinib not only to delay the progression of existing brain metastases, but also to prevent the development of new brain metastases,” Dr. Solomon said.

Dr. Lovly noted that the efficacy of lorlatinib in the brain is “quite compelling,” but other ALK inhibitors have demonstrated similar results.

As for overall survival, the data are still immature. The median overall survival was not reached with lorlatinib or crizotinib (HR, 0.72).
 

Toxicity

Dr. Solomon noted that lorlatinib “does have a different toxicity profile, compared to other ALK inhibitors.” Specifically, lorlatinib is associated with hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglyceridemia, which have not been seen with other ALK inhibitors.

Lorlatinib is also associated with neurocognitive problems, including inattention, memory impairment, and mild confusion. Mood effects include emotional lability – “someone watching a movie might burst into tears when they wouldn’t have otherwise,” Dr. Solomon said – as well as anxiety and depression.

“So it’s important to tell not just the patient but their family about these things so that they identify when [the events] happen,” Dr. Solomon said. “That’s key because [the events are] completely reversible when you stop the drug. With dose interruption, those effects will resolve.”

Other adverse events that were more common with lorlatinib (a 10% or greater difference in frequency from crizotinib) included edema, weight gain, and peripheral neuropathy. Diarrhea, nausea, fatigue, vision disorders, constipation, and increased liver enzymes were more common with crizotinib. Grade 3-4 adverse events led to discontinuation in fewer than 10% of patients in each arm.

The study was funded by Pfizer, and the investigators included employees. Dr. Solomon is an adviser for Pfizer and other companies, and Dr. Lovly’s industry ties included being both an advisor and speaker for Pfizer.

aotto@mdedge.com

SOURCE: Solomon B et al. ESMO 2020, Abstract LBA2.

First-line lorlatinib significantly prolonged progression-free survival (PFS) when compared with crizotinib in advanced ALK-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to an interim analysis of the phase 3 CROWN trial.

Lorlatinib also produced a higher overall and intracranial response rate, prolonging progression to CNS disease.

These findings “support the use of lorlatinib as a highly effective first-line therapy for patients with advanced ALK-positive NSCLC,” said Benjamin Solomon, MBBS, PhD, of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne.

“The CROWN study clearly establishes lorlatinib as another option” among other first-line ALK inhibitors, Dr. Solomon said when presenting the findings at the European Society for Medical Oncology Virtual Congress 2020.

“We now have multiple options for first-line treatment of patients with ALK-positive lung cancer,” noted study discussant Christine Lovly, MD, PhD, a medical oncologist and associate professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn.

The question now, she said, is how to choose among these options. The drugs have all bested crizotinib in trials but haven’t gone head to head against one another.
 

Lorlatinib and CROWN

Lorlatinib is currently approved in the United States to treat ALK-positive metastatic NSCLC that has progressed on crizotinib and at least one other ALK inhibitor. Lorlatinib was granted accelerated approval for this indication based on response rate and duration.

The CROWN study was intended to support the conversion to full approval, according to Pfizer, which is developing both lorlatinib and crizotinib. Pfizer also plans to use the results of CROWN to seek a first-line indication for lorlatinib in NSCLC.

CROWN enrolled 296 patients with stage IIIB/IV ALK-positive NSCLC who had received no prior systemic treatment. Patients with asymptomatic treated or untreated CNS metastases were eligible.

There were 149 patients randomized to lorlatinib at 100 mg daily and 147 randomized to crizotinib at 250 mg twice daily. Five patients in the crizotinib arm were included in the analysis but were not treated, Dr. Solomon said.

The median age was 61 years in the lorlatinib arm and 56 years in the crizotinib arm. Nearly all patients were White (48% in the lorlatinib arm and 49% in the crizotinib arm) or Asian (44% in both arms). A majority of patients were women (56% in the lorlatinib arm and 62% in the crizotinib arm), and more than half said they never smoked (54% in the lorlatinib arm and 64% in the crizotinib arm).
 

Response and PFS

According to blinded independent central review, the objective response rate was 76% with lorlatinib (113/149) and 58% with crizotinib (85/147). There were four complete responses with lorlatinib and none with crizotinib.

Among patients who had measurable or nonmeasurable brain metastases at baseline, the intracranial ORR was 66% with lorlatinib (25/38) and 20% (8/40) with crizotinib. In patients with only measurable brain metastases at baseline, the intracranial ORR was 82% with lorlatinib (14/17) and 23% with crizotinib (3/13).

The 12-month PFS rate was 78% in the lorlatinib arm and 39% in the crizotinib arm. The median PFS was 9.3 months in the crizotinib arm but was not reached in the lorlatinib arm, which “corresponded to a 72% reduction in the risk of death or progression [hazard ratio, 0.21; P < .001],” Dr. Solomon said.

“[T]he PFS for alectinib in the first line is approximately 3 years,” Dr. Lovly noted. “We anxiously await additional data for lorlatinib to see how long the PFS will be.”

The median time to intracranial progression was 16.6 months in the crizotinib arm but was not reached in the lorlatinib arm (HR, 0.07; P < .001).

“These data indicate the ability of lorlatinib not only to delay the progression of existing brain metastases, but also to prevent the development of new brain metastases,” Dr. Solomon said.

Dr. Lovly noted that the efficacy of lorlatinib in the brain is “quite compelling,” but other ALK inhibitors have demonstrated similar results.

As for overall survival, the data are still immature. The median overall survival was not reached with lorlatinib or crizotinib (HR, 0.72).
 

Toxicity

Dr. Solomon noted that lorlatinib “does have a different toxicity profile, compared to other ALK inhibitors.” Specifically, lorlatinib is associated with hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglyceridemia, which have not been seen with other ALK inhibitors.

Lorlatinib is also associated with neurocognitive problems, including inattention, memory impairment, and mild confusion. Mood effects include emotional lability – “someone watching a movie might burst into tears when they wouldn’t have otherwise,” Dr. Solomon said – as well as anxiety and depression.

“So it’s important to tell not just the patient but their family about these things so that they identify when [the events] happen,” Dr. Solomon said. “That’s key because [the events are] completely reversible when you stop the drug. With dose interruption, those effects will resolve.”

Other adverse events that were more common with lorlatinib (a 10% or greater difference in frequency from crizotinib) included edema, weight gain, and peripheral neuropathy. Diarrhea, nausea, fatigue, vision disorders, constipation, and increased liver enzymes were more common with crizotinib. Grade 3-4 adverse events led to discontinuation in fewer than 10% of patients in each arm.

The study was funded by Pfizer, and the investigators included employees. Dr. Solomon is an adviser for Pfizer and other companies, and Dr. Lovly’s industry ties included being both an advisor and speaker for Pfizer.

aotto@mdedge.com

SOURCE: Solomon B et al. ESMO 2020, Abstract LBA2.

The antibody-drug conjugate sacituzumab govitecan (SG, Trodelvy) significantly extends both progression-free survival and overall survival for patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) that has progressed after multiple lines of therapy, according to phase 3 trial data.

The first-in-class drug is directed at trophoblast cell surface antigen 2 (Trop-2), which is highly expressed in breast cancer. Research on the drug was presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology Virtual Congress 2020.

ASCENT randomly assigned more than 500 patients who had metastatic TNBC and who had experienced disease progression after a median of four lines of therapy to receive either SG or physician’s choice of chemotherapy. SG significantly improved median progression-free survival (5.6 vs 1.7 months; hazard ratio [HR], 0.41; P < .0001) and median overall survival (12.1 vs 6.7 months; HR, 0.48; P < .0001).

The response rate was 35% for SG vs 5% for chemotherapy (P < .0001).

The study was presented by Aditya Bardia, MD, MPH, a medical oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.

He said that because the safety profile of SG is consistent with previous reports and the treatment discontinuation rate was low, the clinical benefit “confirms the use of sacituzumab govitecan” in metastatic TNBC. This was a reference to the fact that the drug previously received accelerated approval on the basis of early data.

Bardia added that ongoing studies are evaluating the use of SG in earlier lines of therapy, including neoadjuvant settings in combination with other targeted agents, as well as in hormone receptor–positive metastatic breast cancer. One such study is the phase 3 TROPiCS-02 study, which is actively accruing patients.

Invited discussant Fatima Cardoso, MD, director of the Breast Unit at Champalimaud Clinical Center, Lisbon, Portugal, said the treatment algorithm for the management of TNBC will need to be updated in light of these results.

“In my opinion, we should now add sacituzumab govitecan as a new treatment option for patients treated with two or more lines of therapy,” she said.

She noted that the study design raised some questions over the way such trials should be conducted and the future sequencing of treatments.
 

Objections to study design and execution

Discussant Cardoso said the choice of progression-free survival as the primary endpoint for the trial was not ideal.

“In the metastatic setting, and particularly for triple-negative breast cancer, where the median survival is quite low and where each line of treatment, particularly after the second line, has a short duration, the primary endpoint should have been overall survival,” she commented.

“Luckily, we saw some results, but we could have missed it,” Cardoso said. She made “a plea to make sure that overall survival is at least the co–primary endpoint” in the future.

Cardoso also said it was not clear to her why the trial had to be stopped. “For the current patients, if there is no crossover, there is no benefit in stopping the trial,” she said.

She went on: “For future patients, it’s better to have the final results sufficiently powered.” She noted that the benefit seen in ASCENT was “moderate” and “so not a substantial breakthrough.” She added that it was “important not to stop trials too early.”

On the positive side, Cardoso said the median number of previous lines of therapy was “quite remarkable for this subtype, and it is important then for us to discuss sequencing,” particularly given that so many patients received checkpoint inhibitors before entering the trial.
 

Safety and a focus on diarrhea

Investigator Bardia explained that SG is an antibody-drug conjugate directed at Trop-2, which is highly expressed in breast cancer.

The antibody is linked to SN-38, the active metabolite of irinotecan, via a hydrolyzable linker that makes internalization and enzymatic cleavage by tumor cells unnecessary.

Hydrolysis of the linker releases SN-38 both within the tumor cell and extracellularly to induce a so-called bystander effect, in which neighboring tumors cells may be killed even if they do not express Trop-2.

On the basis of positive results from phase 1/2 trial data, SG was granted accelerated approval by the US Food and Drug Administration for patients with metastatic TNBC who experience disease progression after at least two prior therapies.

ASCENT was therefore a phase 3 confirmatory study. Patients with metastatic TNBC who had received at least two prior chemotherapy regimens were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive intravenous SG on days 1 and 8 of a 21-day cycle or to receive physician’s choice of treatment.

Physicians could choose eribulin, vinorelbine, gemcitabine, or capecitabine.

The patients continued receiving treatment until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity occurred. On the unanimous recommendation of the data safety monitoring committee, the trial was ended early because of “compelling evidence of efficacy.”

In all, 267 patients were randomly assigned to receive SG. Of those patients, 15 remain on treatment. Treatment was discontinued for 199 patients who experienced disease progression. In the control arm, 262 patients were included, none of whom are still on treatment; 166 discontinued because of disease progression.

The current analysis is limited to 235 patients in the SG group and, in the control arm, 233 patients who did not have brain metastases. Patients with brain metastases will be the subject of a later analysis.

All but one patient in both treatment groups were women. The median age was approximately 54 years. The median number of prior treatment regimens was four. All patients had previously received chemotherapy, and between 26% and 29% have taken checkpoint inhibitors.

By the data cutoff of March 11, 2020, patients had received a median of seven treatment cycles with SG. Progression-free survival was adjudicated by blind, independent central review. The median duration of response was of borderline significance, at 6.3 months vs 3.6 months (P = .057).

Bardia showed that the results were consistent among all subgroups, including subgroups determined on the basis of age, number of prior therapies, whether patients had received prior immune checkpoint therapy, and the presence of liver metastases.

With respect to safety, the important grade 3 or higher treatment-related adverse events were neutropenia (seen in 51% of SG patients vs 33% of patients in the control arm), diarrhea (10% vs <1%), leukopenia (10% vs 5%), anemia (8% vs 5%), and febrile neutropenia (6% vs 2%).

Despite the fact that the adverse event rate was higher with SG than with physician’s choice of chemotherapy, the percentage of such events that led to treatment discontinuation was numerically lower, at 4.7% vs 5.4%.

Cardoso highlighted the “substantial percentage” of patients with diarrhea and nausea in the trial and noted that “all grades” of these adverse events “affect quality of life.”

The focus therefore should be on patient education, prophylaxis, and “the early management of side effects,” she said.

This point was taken up in the postpresentation debate. Bardia said the high rate of diarrhea “likely relates to the toxic payload, which is SN-38, which is known to cause diarrhea.

“Loperamide or immodium prophylaxis can be used in patients who receive this drug, and in general, our experience with the use of sacituzumab govitecan is you can control the diarrhea,” Bardia said.

He added: “There is also a different side effect that occurs during the infusion of SG, which is abdominal cramping and diarrhea, and that’s more of a cholinergic reaction. For that, atropine is the best medication to use.”

The study was funded by Immunomedics Inc. Bardia has disclosed financial ties with Immunomedics and multiple other pharmaceutical companies. Cardoso has disclosed financial ties to multiple drug companies.
 

This article first appeared on Medscape.com.

The antibody-drug conjugate sacituzumab govitecan (SG, Trodelvy) significantly extends both progression-free survival and overall survival for patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) that has progressed after multiple lines of therapy, according to phase 3 trial data.

The first-in-class drug is directed at trophoblast cell surface antigen 2 (Trop-2), which is highly expressed in breast cancer. Research on the drug was presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology Virtual Congress 2020.

ASCENT randomly assigned more than 500 patients who had metastatic TNBC and who had experienced disease progression after a median of four lines of therapy to receive either SG or physician’s choice of chemotherapy. SG significantly improved median progression-free survival (5.6 vs 1.7 months; hazard ratio [HR], 0.41; P < .0001) and median overall survival (12.1 vs 6.7 months; HR, 0.48; P < .0001).

The response rate was 35% for SG vs 5% for chemotherapy (P < .0001).

The study was presented by Aditya Bardia, MD, MPH, a medical oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.

He said that because the safety profile of SG is consistent with previous reports and the treatment discontinuation rate was low, the clinical benefit “confirms the use of sacituzumab govitecan” in metastatic TNBC. This was a reference to the fact that the drug previously received accelerated approval on the basis of early data.

Bardia added that ongoing studies are evaluating the use of SG in earlier lines of therapy, including neoadjuvant settings in combination with other targeted agents, as well as in hormone receptor–positive metastatic breast cancer. One such study is the phase 3 TROPiCS-02 study, which is actively accruing patients.

Invited discussant Fatima Cardoso, MD, director of the Breast Unit at Champalimaud Clinical Center, Lisbon, Portugal, said the treatment algorithm for the management of TNBC will need to be updated in light of these results.

“In my opinion, we should now add sacituzumab govitecan as a new treatment option for patients treated with two or more lines of therapy,” she said.

She noted that the study design raised some questions over the way such trials should be conducted and the future sequencing of treatments.
 

Objections to study design and execution

Discussant Cardoso said the choice of progression-free survival as the primary endpoint for the trial was not ideal.

“In the metastatic setting, and particularly for triple-negative breast cancer, where the median survival is quite low and where each line of treatment, particularly after the second line, has a short duration, the primary endpoint should have been overall survival,” she commented.

“Luckily, we saw some results, but we could have missed it,” Cardoso said. She made “a plea to make sure that overall survival is at least the co–primary endpoint” in the future.

Cardoso also said it was not clear to her why the trial had to be stopped. “For the current patients, if there is no crossover, there is no benefit in stopping the trial,” she said.

She went on: “For future patients, it’s better to have the final results sufficiently powered.” She noted that the benefit seen in ASCENT was “moderate” and “so not a substantial breakthrough.” She added that it was “important not to stop trials too early.”

On the positive side, Cardoso said the median number of previous lines of therapy was “quite remarkable for this subtype, and it is important then for us to discuss sequencing,” particularly given that so many patients received checkpoint inhibitors before entering the trial.
 

Safety and a focus on diarrhea

Investigator Bardia explained that SG is an antibody-drug conjugate directed at Trop-2, which is highly expressed in breast cancer.

The antibody is linked to SN-38, the active metabolite of irinotecan, via a hydrolyzable linker that makes internalization and enzymatic cleavage by tumor cells unnecessary.

Hydrolysis of the linker releases SN-38 both within the tumor cell and extracellularly to induce a so-called bystander effect, in which neighboring tumors cells may be killed even if they do not express Trop-2.

On the basis of positive results from phase 1/2 trial data, SG was granted accelerated approval by the US Food and Drug Administration for patients with metastatic TNBC who experience disease progression after at least two prior therapies.

ASCENT was therefore a phase 3 confirmatory study. Patients with metastatic TNBC who had received at least two prior chemotherapy regimens were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive intravenous SG on days 1 and 8 of a 21-day cycle or to receive physician’s choice of treatment.

Physicians could choose eribulin, vinorelbine, gemcitabine, or capecitabine.

The patients continued receiving treatment until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity occurred. On the unanimous recommendation of the data safety monitoring committee, the trial was ended early because of “compelling evidence of efficacy.”

In all, 267 patients were randomly assigned to receive SG. Of those patients, 15 remain on treatment. Treatment was discontinued for 199 patients who experienced disease progression. In the control arm, 262 patients were included, none of whom are still on treatment; 166 discontinued because of disease progression.

The current analysis is limited to 235 patients in the SG group and, in the control arm, 233 patients who did not have brain metastases. Patients with brain metastases will be the subject of a later analysis.

All but one patient in both treatment groups were women. The median age was approximately 54 years. The median number of prior treatment regimens was four. All patients had previously received chemotherapy, and between 26% and 29% have taken checkpoint inhibitors.

By the data cutoff of March 11, 2020, patients had received a median of seven treatment cycles with SG. Progression-free survival was adjudicated by blind, independent central review. The median duration of response was of borderline significance, at 6.3 months vs 3.6 months (P = .057).

Bardia showed that the results were consistent among all subgroups, including subgroups determined on the basis of age, number of prior therapies, whether patients had received prior immune checkpoint therapy, and the presence of liver metastases.

With respect to safety, the important grade 3 or higher treatment-related adverse events were neutropenia (seen in 51% of SG patients vs 33% of patients in the control arm), diarrhea (10% vs <1%), leukopenia (10% vs 5%), anemia (8% vs 5%), and febrile neutropenia (6% vs 2%).

Despite the fact that the adverse event rate was higher with SG than with physician’s choice of chemotherapy, the percentage of such events that led to treatment discontinuation was numerically lower, at 4.7% vs 5.4%.

Cardoso highlighted the “substantial percentage” of patients with diarrhea and nausea in the trial and noted that “all grades” of these adverse events “affect quality of life.”

The focus therefore should be on patient education, prophylaxis, and “the early management of side effects,” she said.

This point was taken up in the postpresentation debate. Bardia said the high rate of diarrhea “likely relates to the toxic payload, which is SN-38, which is known to cause diarrhea.

“Loperamide or immodium prophylaxis can be used in patients who receive this drug, and in general, our experience with the use of sacituzumab govitecan is you can control the diarrhea,” Bardia said.

He added: “There is also a different side effect that occurs during the infusion of SG, which is abdominal cramping and diarrhea, and that’s more of a cholinergic reaction. For that, atropine is the best medication to use.”

The study was funded by Immunomedics Inc. Bardia has disclosed financial ties with Immunomedics and multiple other pharmaceutical companies. Cardoso has disclosed financial ties to multiple drug companies.
 

This article first appeared on Medscape.com.

The antibody-drug conjugate sacituzumab govitecan (SG, Trodelvy) significantly extends both progression-free survival and overall survival for patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) that has progressed after multiple lines of therapy, according to phase 3 trial data.

The first-in-class drug is directed at trophoblast cell surface antigen 2 (Trop-2), which is highly expressed in breast cancer. Research on the drug was presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology Virtual Congress 2020.

ASCENT randomly assigned more than 500 patients who had metastatic TNBC and who had experienced disease progression after a median of four lines of therapy to receive either SG or physician’s choice of chemotherapy. SG significantly improved median progression-free survival (5.6 vs 1.7 months; hazard ratio [HR], 0.41; P < .0001) and median overall survival (12.1 vs 6.7 months; HR, 0.48; P < .0001).

The response rate was 35% for SG vs 5% for chemotherapy (P < .0001).

The study was presented by Aditya Bardia, MD, MPH, a medical oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.

He said that because the safety profile of SG is consistent with previous reports and the treatment discontinuation rate was low, the clinical benefit “confirms the use of sacituzumab govitecan” in metastatic TNBC. This was a reference to the fact that the drug previously received accelerated approval on the basis of early data.

Bardia added that ongoing studies are evaluating the use of SG in earlier lines of therapy, including neoadjuvant settings in combination with other targeted agents, as well as in hormone receptor–positive metastatic breast cancer. One such study is the phase 3 TROPiCS-02 study, which is actively accruing patients.

Invited discussant Fatima Cardoso, MD, director of the Breast Unit at Champalimaud Clinical Center, Lisbon, Portugal, said the treatment algorithm for the management of TNBC will need to be updated in light of these results.

“In my opinion, we should now add sacituzumab govitecan as a new treatment option for patients treated with two or more lines of therapy,” she said.

She noted that the study design raised some questions over the way such trials should be conducted and the future sequencing of treatments.
 

Objections to study design and execution

Discussant Cardoso said the choice of progression-free survival as the primary endpoint for the trial was not ideal.

“In the metastatic setting, and particularly for triple-negative breast cancer, where the median survival is quite low and where each line of treatment, particularly after the second line, has a short duration, the primary endpoint should have been overall survival,” she commented.

“Luckily, we saw some results, but we could have missed it,” Cardoso said. She made “a plea to make sure that overall survival is at least the co–primary endpoint” in the future.

Cardoso also said it was not clear to her why the trial had to be stopped. “For the current patients, if there is no crossover, there is no benefit in stopping the trial,” she said.

She went on: “For future patients, it’s better to have the final results sufficiently powered.” She noted that the benefit seen in ASCENT was “moderate” and “so not a substantial breakthrough.” She added that it was “important not to stop trials too early.”

On the positive side, Cardoso said the median number of previous lines of therapy was “quite remarkable for this subtype, and it is important then for us to discuss sequencing,” particularly given that so many patients received checkpoint inhibitors before entering the trial.
 

Safety and a focus on diarrhea

Investigator Bardia explained that SG is an antibody-drug conjugate directed at Trop-2, which is highly expressed in breast cancer.

The antibody is linked to SN-38, the active metabolite of irinotecan, via a hydrolyzable linker that makes internalization and enzymatic cleavage by tumor cells unnecessary.

Hydrolysis of the linker releases SN-38 both within the tumor cell and extracellularly to induce a so-called bystander effect, in which neighboring tumors cells may be killed even if they do not express Trop-2.

On the basis of positive results from phase 1/2 trial data, SG was granted accelerated approval by the US Food and Drug Administration for patients with metastatic TNBC who experience disease progression after at least two prior therapies.

ASCENT was therefore a phase 3 confirmatory study. Patients with metastatic TNBC who had received at least two prior chemotherapy regimens were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive intravenous SG on days 1 and 8 of a 21-day cycle or to receive physician’s choice of treatment.

Physicians could choose eribulin, vinorelbine, gemcitabine, or capecitabine.

The patients continued receiving treatment until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity occurred. On the unanimous recommendation of the data safety monitoring committee, the trial was ended early because of “compelling evidence of efficacy.”

In all, 267 patients were randomly assigned to receive SG. Of those patients, 15 remain on treatment. Treatment was discontinued for 199 patients who experienced disease progression. In the control arm, 262 patients were included, none of whom are still on treatment; 166 discontinued because of disease progression.

The current analysis is limited to 235 patients in the SG group and, in the control arm, 233 patients who did not have brain metastases. Patients with brain metastases will be the subject of a later analysis.

All but one patient in both treatment groups were women. The median age was approximately 54 years. The median number of prior treatment regimens was four. All patients had previously received chemotherapy, and between 26% and 29% have taken checkpoint inhibitors.

By the data cutoff of March 11, 2020, patients had received a median of seven treatment cycles with SG. Progression-free survival was adjudicated by blind, independent central review. The median duration of response was of borderline significance, at 6.3 months vs 3.6 months (P = .057).

Bardia showed that the results were consistent among all subgroups, including subgroups determined on the basis of age, number of prior therapies, whether patients had received prior immune checkpoint therapy, and the presence of liver metastases.

With respect to safety, the important grade 3 or higher treatment-related adverse events were neutropenia (seen in 51% of SG patients vs 33% of patients in the control arm), diarrhea (10% vs <1%), leukopenia (10% vs 5%), anemia (8% vs 5%), and febrile neutropenia (6% vs 2%).

Despite the fact that the adverse event rate was higher with SG than with physician’s choice of chemotherapy, the percentage of such events that led to treatment discontinuation was numerically lower, at 4.7% vs 5.4%.

Cardoso highlighted the “substantial percentage” of patients with diarrhea and nausea in the trial and noted that “all grades” of these adverse events “affect quality of life.”

The focus therefore should be on patient education, prophylaxis, and “the early management of side effects,” she said.

This point was taken up in the postpresentation debate. Bardia said the high rate of diarrhea “likely relates to the toxic payload, which is SN-38, which is known to cause diarrhea.

“Loperamide or immodium prophylaxis can be used in patients who receive this drug, and in general, our experience with the use of sacituzumab govitecan is you can control the diarrhea,” Bardia said.

He added: “There is also a different side effect that occurs during the infusion of SG, which is abdominal cramping and diarrhea, and that’s more of a cholinergic reaction. For that, atropine is the best medication to use.”

The study was funded by Immunomedics Inc. Bardia has disclosed financial ties with Immunomedics and multiple other pharmaceutical companies. Cardoso has disclosed financial ties to multiple drug companies.
 

This article first appeared on Medscape.com.

In patients with completely resected non–small cell lung cancer and proven N2 disease, postoperative radiotherapy (PORT) provided no significant improvement in disease-free survival (DFS) at 3 years, according to a phase 3 trial.

Investigator Cécile Le Péchoux, MD, a radiation oncologist from Institut Gustave Roussy in Paris, presented the results of the Lung ART trial at the European Society for Medical Oncology Virtual Congress 2020.

The results resolve what ESMO commentator Rafal Dziadziuszko, MD, PhD, of Medical University of Gdansk (Poland), called “perhaps the longest ongoing debate in thoracic oncology,” on whether or not to irradiate patients with mediastinal lymph node involvement after surgery.

Dr. Dziadziuszko noted that some past studies have suggested PORT may provide improved local control and a survival benefit, but other studies have shown no survival benefit and evidence of harm with PORT.

“So here is an academic study with the answer,” Dr. Dziadziuszko said.
 

Study details

The intention-to-treat population of Lung ART included 252 patients randomized to receive 5.5 weeks of PORT (54 Gy) and 249 patients randomized to the control arm without PORT.

The patients’ median age was 61 years, 66% were men, and adenocarcinoma was the predominant histology (76% of patients in the control arm and 70% in the PORT arm). All patients had received adjuvant or neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

The median follow-up was 4.8 years. The 3-year DFS rate was 47.1% in the PORT arm and 43.8% in the control arm (hazard ratio, 0.85; 95% confidence interval, 0.67-1.07, P = .16). The median DFS was 30.5 months with PORT and 22.8 months in the control group. As for DFS components, the rate for death as a first event was 14.6% in the PORT arm and 5.3% among controls.

The mediastinal relapse rate was higher among controls, at 46.1% versus 25.0% with PORT.

The 3-year overall survival rate was 66.5% among patients in the PORT arm and 68.5% in the control arm.

At least one grade 3-4 toxicity was reported in 23.7% of the PORT group and in 15.0% of controls. The grade 3-4 cardiopulmonary toxicity rate of 10.8% in the PORT arm and 4.9% in the control arm needs to be further explored, Dr. Le Péchoux said.
 

Applying the results to practice

In response to a question as to which patients might benefit from PORT, Dr. Le Péchoux pointed out that, among patients who have nodes in the inferior part of the mediastinum closer to the heart, PORT might be more toxic.

“For the moment, we did not see anything that would give us a clue,” Dr. Le Péchoux said. “We have a lot to investigate.”

Further analyses looking at patterns of failure, predictive factors of efficacy and toxicity, quality of radiotherapy, and quality of surgery are planned, she added.

Dr. Le Péchoux concluded: “Conformal PORT cannot be recommended as standard of care in all completely resected stage IIIAN2 [non–small cell lung cancer] patients.”

Dr. Dziadziuszko commented further: “For my practice, this is a clear message that routine PORT should not be used in these patients. We are looking for more effective systemic therapies.”

He added that “over 50% 5-year survival in these patients is a great result, and is made possible by modern staging and modern surgery.”

The Lung ART study was sponsored by Gustave Roussy and supported by the French National Cancer Institute, French Health Ministry, and a Cancer Research UK grant. Dr. Le Péchoux and Dr. Dziadziuszko reported no conflicts of interest related to the presentation.

SOURCE: Le Péchoux C et al. ESMO 2020, Abstract LBA3_PR.

In patients with completely resected non–small cell lung cancer and proven N2 disease, postoperative radiotherapy (PORT) provided no significant improvement in disease-free survival (DFS) at 3 years, according to a phase 3 trial.

Investigator Cécile Le Péchoux, MD, a radiation oncologist from Institut Gustave Roussy in Paris, presented the results of the Lung ART trial at the European Society for Medical Oncology Virtual Congress 2020.

The results resolve what ESMO commentator Rafal Dziadziuszko, MD, PhD, of Medical University of Gdansk (Poland), called “perhaps the longest ongoing debate in thoracic oncology,” on whether or not to irradiate patients with mediastinal lymph node involvement after surgery.

Dr. Dziadziuszko noted that some past studies have suggested PORT may provide improved local control and a survival benefit, but other studies have shown no survival benefit and evidence of harm with PORT.

“So here is an academic study with the answer,” Dr. Dziadziuszko said.
 

Study details

The intention-to-treat population of Lung ART included 252 patients randomized to receive 5.5 weeks of PORT (54 Gy) and 249 patients randomized to the control arm without PORT.

The patients’ median age was 61 years, 66% were men, and adenocarcinoma was the predominant histology (76% of patients in the control arm and 70% in the PORT arm). All patients had received adjuvant or neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

The median follow-up was 4.8 years. The 3-year DFS rate was 47.1% in the PORT arm and 43.8% in the control arm (hazard ratio, 0.85; 95% confidence interval, 0.67-1.07, P = .16). The median DFS was 30.5 months with PORT and 22.8 months in the control group. As for DFS components, the rate for death as a first event was 14.6% in the PORT arm and 5.3% among controls.

The mediastinal relapse rate was higher among controls, at 46.1% versus 25.0% with PORT.

The 3-year overall survival rate was 66.5% among patients in the PORT arm and 68.5% in the control arm.

At least one grade 3-4 toxicity was reported in 23.7% of the PORT group and in 15.0% of controls. The grade 3-4 cardiopulmonary toxicity rate of 10.8% in the PORT arm and 4.9% in the control arm needs to be further explored, Dr. Le Péchoux said.
 

Applying the results to practice

In response to a question as to which patients might benefit from PORT, Dr. Le Péchoux pointed out that, among patients who have nodes in the inferior part of the mediastinum closer to the heart, PORT might be more toxic.

“For the moment, we did not see anything that would give us a clue,” Dr. Le Péchoux said. “We have a lot to investigate.”

Further analyses looking at patterns of failure, predictive factors of efficacy and toxicity, quality of radiotherapy, and quality of surgery are planned, she added.

Dr. Le Péchoux concluded: “Conformal PORT cannot be recommended as standard of care in all completely resected stage IIIAN2 [non–small cell lung cancer] patients.”

Dr. Dziadziuszko commented further: “For my practice, this is a clear message that routine PORT should not be used in these patients. We are looking for more effective systemic therapies.”

He added that “over 50% 5-year survival in these patients is a great result, and is made possible by modern staging and modern surgery.”

The Lung ART study was sponsored by Gustave Roussy and supported by the French National Cancer Institute, French Health Ministry, and a Cancer Research UK grant. Dr. Le Péchoux and Dr. Dziadziuszko reported no conflicts of interest related to the presentation.

SOURCE: Le Péchoux C et al. ESMO 2020, Abstract LBA3_PR.

In patients with completely resected non–small cell lung cancer and proven N2 disease, postoperative radiotherapy (PORT) provided no significant improvement in disease-free survival (DFS) at 3 years, according to a phase 3 trial.

Investigator Cécile Le Péchoux, MD, a radiation oncologist from Institut Gustave Roussy in Paris, presented the results of the Lung ART trial at the European Society for Medical Oncology Virtual Congress 2020.

The results resolve what ESMO commentator Rafal Dziadziuszko, MD, PhD, of Medical University of Gdansk (Poland), called “perhaps the longest ongoing debate in thoracic oncology,” on whether or not to irradiate patients with mediastinal lymph node involvement after surgery.

Dr. Dziadziuszko noted that some past studies have suggested PORT may provide improved local control and a survival benefit, but other studies have shown no survival benefit and evidence of harm with PORT.

“So here is an academic study with the answer,” Dr. Dziadziuszko said.
 

Study details

The intention-to-treat population of Lung ART included 252 patients randomized to receive 5.5 weeks of PORT (54 Gy) and 249 patients randomized to the control arm without PORT.

The patients’ median age was 61 years, 66% were men, and adenocarcinoma was the predominant histology (76% of patients in the control arm and 70% in the PORT arm). All patients had received adjuvant or neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

The median follow-up was 4.8 years. The 3-year DFS rate was 47.1% in the PORT arm and 43.8% in the control arm (hazard ratio, 0.85; 95% confidence interval, 0.67-1.07, P = .16). The median DFS was 30.5 months with PORT and 22.8 months in the control group. As for DFS components, the rate for death as a first event was 14.6% in the PORT arm and 5.3% among controls.

The mediastinal relapse rate was higher among controls, at 46.1% versus 25.0% with PORT.

The 3-year overall survival rate was 66.5% among patients in the PORT arm and 68.5% in the control arm.

At least one grade 3-4 toxicity was reported in 23.7% of the PORT group and in 15.0% of controls. The grade 3-4 cardiopulmonary toxicity rate of 10.8% in the PORT arm and 4.9% in the control arm needs to be further explored, Dr. Le Péchoux said.
 

Applying the results to practice

In response to a question as to which patients might benefit from PORT, Dr. Le Péchoux pointed out that, among patients who have nodes in the inferior part of the mediastinum closer to the heart, PORT might be more toxic.

“For the moment, we did not see anything that would give us a clue,” Dr. Le Péchoux said. “We have a lot to investigate.”

Further analyses looking at patterns of failure, predictive factors of efficacy and toxicity, quality of radiotherapy, and quality of surgery are planned, she added.

Dr. Le Péchoux concluded: “Conformal PORT cannot be recommended as standard of care in all completely resected stage IIIAN2 [non–small cell lung cancer] patients.”

Dr. Dziadziuszko commented further: “For my practice, this is a clear message that routine PORT should not be used in these patients. We are looking for more effective systemic therapies.”

He added that “over 50% 5-year survival in these patients is a great result, and is made possible by modern staging and modern surgery.”

The Lung ART study was sponsored by Gustave Roussy and supported by the French National Cancer Institute, French Health Ministry, and a Cancer Research UK grant. Dr. Le Péchoux and Dr. Dziadziuszko reported no conflicts of interest related to the presentation.

SOURCE: Le Péchoux C et al. ESMO 2020, Abstract LBA3_PR.

An international survey provides new insights into how COVID-19 has affected, and may continue to affect, the field of oncology.

The survey showed that “COVID-19 has had a major impact on the organization of patient care, on the well-being of caregivers, on continued medical education, and on clinical trial activities in oncology,” stated Guy Jerusalem, MD, PhD, of Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Liège (Belgium).

Dr. Jerusalem presented these findings at the European Society for Medical Oncology Virtual Congress 2020.

The survey was distributed by 20 oncologists from 10 of the countries most affected by COVID-19. Responses were obtained from 109 oncologists representing centers in 18 countries. The responses were recorded between June 17 and July 14, 2020.

The survey consisted of 95 items intended to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on the organization of oncologic care. Questions encompassed the capacity and service offered at each center, the magnitude of COVID-19–based care interruptions and the reasons for them, the ensuing challenges faced, interventions implemented, and the estimated harms to patients during the pandemic.

The 109 oncologists surveyed had a median of 20 years of oncology experience. A majority of respondents were men (61.5%), and the median age was 48.5 years.

The respondents had worked predominantly (62.4%) at academic hospitals, with 29.6% at community hospitals. Most respondents worked at general hospitals with an oncology unit (66.1%) rather than a specialized separate cancer center (32.1%).

The most common specialty was breast cancer (60.6%), followed by gastrointestinal cancer (10.1%), urogenital cancer (9.2%), and lung cancer (8.3%).
 

Impact on treatment

The treatment modalities affected by the pandemic – through cancellations or delays in more than 10% of patients – included surgery (in 34% of centers), chemotherapy (22%), radiotherapy (13.7%), checkpoint inhibitor therapy (9.1%), monoclonal antibodies (9%), and oral targeted therapy (3.7%).

Among oncologists treating breast cancer, cancellations/delays in more than 10% of patients were reported for everolimus (18%), CDK4/6 inhibitors (8.9%), and endocrine therapy (2.2%).

Overall, 34.8% of respondents reported increased use of granulocyte colony–stimulating factor, and 6.4% reported increased use of erythropoietin.

On the other hand, 11.1% of respondents reported a decrease in the use of double immunotherapy, and 21.9% reported decreased use of corticosteroids.

Not only can the immunosuppressive effects of steroid use increase infection risks, Dr. Jerusalem noted, fever suppression can lead to a delayed diagnosis of COVID-19.

“To circumvent potential higher infection risks or greater disease severity, we use lower doses of steroids, but this is not based on studies,” he said.

“Previous exposure to steroids or being on steroids at the time of COVID-19 infection is a detrimental factor for complications and mortality,” commented ESMO President Solange Peters, MD, PhD, of Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Frontline Medical News

Dr. Peters noted that the observation was based on lung cancer registry findings. Furthermore, because data from smaller outbreaks of other coronavirus infections suggested worse prognosis and increased mortality, steroid use was already feared in the very early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lastly, earlier cessation of palliative treatment was observed in 32.1% of centers, and 64.2% of respondents agreed that undertreatment because of COVID-19 is a major concern.

Dr. Jerusalem noted that the survey data do not explain the early cessation of palliative treatment. “I suspect that many patients died at home rather than alone in institutions because it was the only way they could die with their families around them.”
 

Telehealth, meetings, and trials

The survey also revealed rationales for the use of teleconsultation, including follow-up (94.5%), oral therapy (92.7%), immunotherapy (57.8%), and chemotherapy (55%).

Most respondents reported more frequent use of virtual meetings for continuing medical education (94%), oncologic team meetings (92%), and tumor boards (82%).

While about 82% of respondents said they were likely to continue the use of telemedicine, 45% said virtual conferences are not an acceptable alternative to live international conferences such as ESMO, Dr. Jerusalem said.

Finally, nearly three-quarters of respondents (72.5%) said all clinical trial activities are or will soon be activated, or never stopped, at their centers. On the other hand, 27.5% of respondents reported that their centers had major protocol violations or deviations, and 37% of respondents said they expect significant reductions in clinical trial activities this year.

Dr. Jerusalem concluded that COVID-19 is having a major, long-term impact on the organization of patient care, caregivers, continued medical education, and clinical trial activities in oncology.

He cautioned that “the risk of a delayed diagnosis of new cancers and economic consequences of COVID-19 on access to health care and cancer treatments have to be carefully evaluated.”

This research was funded by Fondation Léon Fredericq. Dr. Jerusalem disclosed relationships with Novartis, Roche, Lilly, Pfizer, Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, AstraZeneca, Daiichi Sankyo, AbbVie, MedImmune, and Merck. Dr. Peters disclosed relationships with AbbVie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, and many other companies.

SOURCE: Jerusalem G et al. ESMO 2020, Abstract LBA76.

An international survey provides new insights into how COVID-19 has affected, and may continue to affect, the field of oncology.

The survey showed that “COVID-19 has had a major impact on the organization of patient care, on the well-being of caregivers, on continued medical education, and on clinical trial activities in oncology,” stated Guy Jerusalem, MD, PhD, of Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Liège (Belgium).

Dr. Jerusalem presented these findings at the European Society for Medical Oncology Virtual Congress 2020.

The survey was distributed by 20 oncologists from 10 of the countries most affected by COVID-19. Responses were obtained from 109 oncologists representing centers in 18 countries. The responses were recorded between June 17 and July 14, 2020.

The survey consisted of 95 items intended to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on the organization of oncologic care. Questions encompassed the capacity and service offered at each center, the magnitude of COVID-19–based care interruptions and the reasons for them, the ensuing challenges faced, interventions implemented, and the estimated harms to patients during the pandemic.

The 109 oncologists surveyed had a median of 20 years of oncology experience. A majority of respondents were men (61.5%), and the median age was 48.5 years.

The respondents had worked predominantly (62.4%) at academic hospitals, with 29.6% at community hospitals. Most respondents worked at general hospitals with an oncology unit (66.1%) rather than a specialized separate cancer center (32.1%).

The most common specialty was breast cancer (60.6%), followed by gastrointestinal cancer (10.1%), urogenital cancer (9.2%), and lung cancer (8.3%).
 

Impact on treatment

The treatment modalities affected by the pandemic – through cancellations or delays in more than 10% of patients – included surgery (in 34% of centers), chemotherapy (22%), radiotherapy (13.7%), checkpoint inhibitor therapy (9.1%), monoclonal antibodies (9%), and oral targeted therapy (3.7%).

Among oncologists treating breast cancer, cancellations/delays in more than 10% of patients were reported for everolimus (18%), CDK4/6 inhibitors (8.9%), and endocrine therapy (2.2%).

Overall, 34.8% of respondents reported increased use of granulocyte colony–stimulating factor, and 6.4% reported increased use of erythropoietin.

On the other hand, 11.1% of respondents reported a decrease in the use of double immunotherapy, and 21.9% reported decreased use of corticosteroids.

Not only can the immunosuppressive effects of steroid use increase infection risks, Dr. Jerusalem noted, fever suppression can lead to a delayed diagnosis of COVID-19.

“To circumvent potential higher infection risks or greater disease severity, we use lower doses of steroids, but this is not based on studies,” he said.

“Previous exposure to steroids or being on steroids at the time of COVID-19 infection is a detrimental factor for complications and mortality,” commented ESMO President Solange Peters, MD, PhD, of Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Frontline Medical News

Dr. Peters noted that the observation was based on lung cancer registry findings. Furthermore, because data from smaller outbreaks of other coronavirus infections suggested worse prognosis and increased mortality, steroid use was already feared in the very early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lastly, earlier cessation of palliative treatment was observed in 32.1% of centers, and 64.2% of respondents agreed that undertreatment because of COVID-19 is a major concern.

Dr. Jerusalem noted that the survey data do not explain the early cessation of palliative treatment. “I suspect that many patients died at home rather than alone in institutions because it was the only way they could die with their families around them.”
 

Telehealth, meetings, and trials

The survey also revealed rationales for the use of teleconsultation, including follow-up (94.5%), oral therapy (92.7%), immunotherapy (57.8%), and chemotherapy (55%).

Most respondents reported more frequent use of virtual meetings for continuing medical education (94%), oncologic team meetings (92%), and tumor boards (82%).

While about 82% of respondents said they were likely to continue the use of telemedicine, 45% said virtual conferences are not an acceptable alternative to live international conferences such as ESMO, Dr. Jerusalem said.

Finally, nearly three-quarters of respondents (72.5%) said all clinical trial activities are or will soon be activated, or never stopped, at their centers. On the other hand, 27.5% of respondents reported that their centers had major protocol violations or deviations, and 37% of respondents said they expect significant reductions in clinical trial activities this year.

Dr. Jerusalem concluded that COVID-19 is having a major, long-term impact on the organization of patient care, caregivers, continued medical education, and clinical trial activities in oncology.

He cautioned that “the risk of a delayed diagnosis of new cancers and economic consequences of COVID-19 on access to health care and cancer treatments have to be carefully evaluated.”

This research was funded by Fondation Léon Fredericq. Dr. Jerusalem disclosed relationships with Novartis, Roche, Lilly, Pfizer, Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, AstraZeneca, Daiichi Sankyo, AbbVie, MedImmune, and Merck. Dr. Peters disclosed relationships with AbbVie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, and many other companies.

SOURCE: Jerusalem G et al. ESMO 2020, Abstract LBA76.

An international survey provides new insights into how COVID-19 has affected, and may continue to affect, the field of oncology.

The survey showed that “COVID-19 has had a major impact on the organization of patient care, on the well-being of caregivers, on continued medical education, and on clinical trial activities in oncology,” stated Guy Jerusalem, MD, PhD, of Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Liège (Belgium).

Dr. Jerusalem presented these findings at the European Society for Medical Oncology Virtual Congress 2020.

The survey was distributed by 20 oncologists from 10 of the countries most affected by COVID-19. Responses were obtained from 109 oncologists representing centers in 18 countries. The responses were recorded between June 17 and July 14, 2020.

The survey consisted of 95 items intended to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on the organization of oncologic care. Questions encompassed the capacity and service offered at each center, the magnitude of COVID-19–based care interruptions and the reasons for them, the ensuing challenges faced, interventions implemented, and the estimated harms to patients during the pandemic.

The 109 oncologists surveyed had a median of 20 years of oncology experience. A majority of respondents were men (61.5%), and the median age was 48.5 years.

The respondents had worked predominantly (62.4%) at academic hospitals, with 29.6% at community hospitals. Most respondents worked at general hospitals with an oncology unit (66.1%) rather than a specialized separate cancer center (32.1%).

The most common specialty was breast cancer (60.6%), followed by gastrointestinal cancer (10.1%), urogenital cancer (9.2%), and lung cancer (8.3%).
 

Impact on treatment

The treatment modalities affected by the pandemic – through cancellations or delays in more than 10% of patients – included surgery (in 34% of centers), chemotherapy (22%), radiotherapy (13.7%), checkpoint inhibitor therapy (9.1%), monoclonal antibodies (9%), and oral targeted therapy (3.7%).

Among oncologists treating breast cancer, cancellations/delays in more than 10% of patients were reported for everolimus (18%), CDK4/6 inhibitors (8.9%), and endocrine therapy (2.2%).

Overall, 34.8% of respondents reported increased use of granulocyte colony–stimulating factor, and 6.4% reported increased use of erythropoietin.

On the other hand, 11.1% of respondents reported a decrease in the use of double immunotherapy, and 21.9% reported decreased use of corticosteroids.

Not only can the immunosuppressive effects of steroid use increase infection risks, Dr. Jerusalem noted, fever suppression can lead to a delayed diagnosis of COVID-19.

“To circumvent potential higher infection risks or greater disease severity, we use lower doses of steroids, but this is not based on studies,” he said.

“Previous exposure to steroids or being on steroids at the time of COVID-19 infection is a detrimental factor for complications and mortality,” commented ESMO President Solange Peters, MD, PhD, of Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Frontline Medical News

Dr. Peters noted that the observation was based on lung cancer registry findings. Furthermore, because data from smaller outbreaks of other coronavirus infections suggested worse prognosis and increased mortality, steroid use was already feared in the very early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lastly, earlier cessation of palliative treatment was observed in 32.1% of centers, and 64.2% of respondents agreed that undertreatment because of COVID-19 is a major concern.

Dr. Jerusalem noted that the survey data do not explain the early cessation of palliative treatment. “I suspect that many patients died at home rather than alone in institutions because it was the only way they could die with their families around them.”
 

Telehealth, meetings, and trials

The survey also revealed rationales for the use of teleconsultation, including follow-up (94.5%), oral therapy (92.7%), immunotherapy (57.8%), and chemotherapy (55%).

Most respondents reported more frequent use of virtual meetings for continuing medical education (94%), oncologic team meetings (92%), and tumor boards (82%).

While about 82% of respondents said they were likely to continue the use of telemedicine, 45% said virtual conferences are not an acceptable alternative to live international conferences such as ESMO, Dr. Jerusalem said.

Finally, nearly three-quarters of respondents (72.5%) said all clinical trial activities are or will soon be activated, or never stopped, at their centers. On the other hand, 27.5% of respondents reported that their centers had major protocol violations or deviations, and 37% of respondents said they expect significant reductions in clinical trial activities this year.

Dr. Jerusalem concluded that COVID-19 is having a major, long-term impact on the organization of patient care, caregivers, continued medical education, and clinical trial activities in oncology.

He cautioned that “the risk of a delayed diagnosis of new cancers and economic consequences of COVID-19 on access to health care and cancer treatments have to be carefully evaluated.”

This research was funded by Fondation Léon Fredericq. Dr. Jerusalem disclosed relationships with Novartis, Roche, Lilly, Pfizer, Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, AstraZeneca, Daiichi Sankyo, AbbVie, MedImmune, and Merck. Dr. Peters disclosed relationships with AbbVie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, and many other companies.

SOURCE: Jerusalem G et al. ESMO 2020, Abstract LBA76.