According to an analysis of two phase 3 studies published in the journal The Lancet Oncology, although afatinib did not improve overall survival among the overall population with EGFR mutation-positive lung adenocarcinoma in both studies, it did improve overall survival among those with del19 EGFR mutations.
For the two open-label, phase 3 LUX-Lung 3 and LUX-Lung 6 studies, researchers sought to investigate the effect of afatinib on overall survival among with EGFR mutation-positive lung adenocarcinoma.
Researchers enrolled 345 patients with previously untreated EGFR mutation-positive stage 3B or 4 lung adenocarcinoma in the LUX-Lung 3 study and randomly assigned them 2:1 to receive afatinib or pemetrexed plus cisplatin, and enrolled 364 patients in LUX-Lung 6 and randomly assigned them to receive afatinib or gemcitabine plus cisplatin.
Results showed that in LUX-Lung 3, the median overall survival was 28.2 months (95% CI: 24.6-33.6) in the afatinib group and 28.2 months (95% CI: 20.7-33.2) in the chemotherapy group (HR = 0.88; 95% CI: 0.66-1.17; P = 0.39).
In LUX-Lung 6, the median overall survival was 23.1 months (95% CI: 20.4-27.3) in the afatinib group and 23.5 months (95% CI: 18.0-25.6) in the chemotherapy group (HR = 0.93; 95% CI: 0.72-1.22; P = 0.61). In both studies, overall survival for those with del19 mutations was significantly longer in the afatinib group versus the chemotherapy group.
Afatinib did not improve overall survival among the overall population with EGFR mutation-positive lung adenocarcinoma.
The authors aimed to assess the effect of afatinib on overall survival of patients with EGFR mutation-positive lung adenocarcinoma through an analysis of data from two open-label, randomised, phase 3 trials. Although afatinib did not improve overall survival in the whole population of either trial, overall survival was improved with the drug for patients with del19 EGFR mutations.