| The following article features coverage from the IASLC 18th World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) in Yokohama, Japan. Click here to read more of Cancer Therapy Advisor‘s conference coverage. |
First-line atezolizumab maintained durable clinical activity in patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) regardless of EGFR or KRAS mutational status after more than 2 years of follow-up, according to an oral abstract presentation at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) 18th Annual World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) in Yokohama, Japan.1
A previous analysis of the phase 2 BIRCH study (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02031458) showed that atezolizumab, a PD-L1 inhibitor, provides clinically meaningful and durable benefit as a first- and second-line therapy. Researchers identified the level of PD-L1 expression on tumor cells (TC) and tumor-infiltrating immune cells (IC), and enrolled patients who were TC2/3 or IC2/3 (5% or greater expression of PD-L1). Eligible patients were chemotherapy-naïve and had advanced local or metastatic NSCLC. Patients with an EGFR mutation or ALK rearrangement had received prior TKI therapy.
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At the median follow-up of 29.7 months, patients who were TC3 or IC3 had an overall survival (OS) of 26.9 months. The OS in all treated patients was 24.0 months.
Patients who were in the TC3/IC3 also had an objective response rate (ORR) of 35%; the ORR in all treated patients was 26%. The ORR was 31% and 23% for patients with mutant EGFR vs patients with wild-type EGFR, respectively, and was 31% and 24% for patients with mutant KRAS vs wild-type KRAS.
The authors concluded that “atezolizumab monotherapy has promising activity as a frontline therapy. Ongoing phase III trials are evaluating atezolizumab-based regimens vs chemotherapy in 1L NSCLC.”
Read more of Cancer Therapy Advisor‘s coverage of the IASLC 18th World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) by visiting the conference page.
Reference
- Carcereny E, Felip E, Reck M, et al. Updated efficacy results from the BIRCH study: first-line atezolizumab therapy in PD-L1-selected patients with advanced NSCLC. Presented at: International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer 18th World Conference on Lung Cancer; Yokohama, Japan: October 15-18, 2017. Abstract OA 17.02.
