Lapatinib minimally effective for non-small-cell lung cancer3 t8 d$ }/ ]2 }; _% Y# k& M, t. o
MARCH 18, 2010
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* {8 C+ r; z# ?. GNEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Although well tolerated, lapatinib is minimally effective as monotherapy for advanced or metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to a report in the March 15th Clinical Cancer Research.
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Lapatinib (GlaxoSmithKline) is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor of both epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and HER2, the authors explain, and thus has theoretical advantages over inhibition of either EGFR or HER2 alone. : k r5 x9 j! `& E$ S
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Dr. Helen J. Ross, from Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, Arizona, and colleagues evaluated the overall response rate to lapatinib in 131 patients with advanced or metastatic NSCLC. Sixty-five patients were randomized to lapatinib 1500 mg once daily and 66 to lapatinib 500 mg twice daily.
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4 ?+ T0 N) i1 b* cWhen the study began, patients with any type of advanced or metastatic NSCLC were recruited ("non-targeted" population). However, when data from other studies began to show that EGFR inhibitors are particularly effective in patients with bronchioloalveolar carcinoma and in never-smokers with any histology of NSCLC, recruitment began to "target" such patients.
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! R6 C( T- U+ F- aThe targeted population included 24 patients in the 1500 mg/day group and 32 in the 500 mg twice daily group. The corresponding numbers in the non-targeted population were 41 and 34.4 A! _9 B. C4 L7 H# ] w4 K
4 ^ v _% ^; t* U" g+ rAt the interim analysis of the first 30 targeted patients to reach the initial response evaluation, the response rate was 0% in both treatment groups. In the non-targeted population, one patient in the 1500-mg group achieved a partial response. 1 H8 n8 B4 M, B1 a
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Overall, 31 of 131 patients (24%) had stable disease or better. 7 z2 Y4 p, P+ Y$ B9 ?. x
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Based on these findings, the study was stopped for reasons of futility, the investigators state.
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3 s! X1 Y# z, q, mOverall survival in the targeted population was 15.2 months for the 1500-mg once-daily group and 13.9 months for the 500-mg twice-daily group, and in the nontargeted population, overall survival was 11.4 months for the 1500-mg once-daily group and 8.1 months for the 500-mg twice-daily group.
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. I7 u" v- [, B5 I" S' i1 S! NMedian progression-free survival was 15.6 weeks (1500-mg once-daily) and 8.7 weeks (500-mg twice-daily) in the targeted population and 12.0 weeks (1500-mg once-daily) and 8.6 weeks (500-mg twice-daily) in the nontargeted population.
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6 G, |" a. _) ^3 WThe incidence of adverse events considered to be related to study medication was 89% for 1500 mg once daily and 83% for 500 mg twice daily, but only 8% of patients in each group experienced serious adverse events related to study medication. ]( A2 G7 v' a
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Among 92 patients with tumor tissue available, 2 had mutations in EGFR and 1 had mutations in both EGFR and KRAS. None had mutations in HER2.
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Of 77 patients with sufficient DNA for gene copy evaluation, 5 (8.8%) had increased EGFR copy number and 2 (3.5%) had increased HER2 gene copy number.
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7 C3 I' e8 j9 q+ D _8 o0 r2 ONone of the patients with EGFR mutations responded to lapatinib, and only 1 patient with HER2 amplification had an unconfirmed decrease of 51% in tumor measurement.
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"Lapatinib as a single agent at the doses studied seems to have minimal single-agent activity, at least as measured by response rates," the authors conclude, "although progression-free survival in the 1500-mg once-daily group was in the range that would be expected with first-line chemotherapy." * x6 S! _8 r. I& q9 Y: H
$ `. x- }8 W* t+ d# g( h' C9 s+ A"Patients in this small study had a suggestion of disease stabilization with lapatinib," Dr. Ross said. "It would be of interest to examine it in the adjuvant setting after resection perhaps, after chemoradiotherapy perhaps or after up-front chemotherapy. It is possible that combination with other targeted agents, such as anti-angiogenic agents, might be useful." ( M. y8 F$ [9 a
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The study was sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline./ g( p2 p# g) F7 R; c' f
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