For Del19 EGFR Mutation-Positive Lung Adenocarcinoma, Afatinib Improves Overall Survival

the Cancer Therapy Advisor take:

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.