ESMO 2018: Neoadjuvant Erlotinib in Stage IIIA-N2 Lung Cancer
Posted: Wednesday, November 21, 2018
Some patients with stage IIIA-N2 EGFR-mutated non–small cell lung cancer who undergo complete resection seem to benefit from neoadjuvant erlotinib compared with gemcitabine plus cisplatin, based on the findings of the CTONG 1103 trial. Yi-Long Wu, MD, of the Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute in Guangzhou, China, presented these study results at the 2018 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress (Abstract LBA48).
“This is the first study to demonstrate progression-free survival superiority for erlotinib over gemcitabine plus cisplatin chemotherapy in the neoadjuvant/adjuvant setting of stage IIIA-N2 EGFR-mutated NSCLC,” noted Dr. Wu in an ESMO press release. “EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors may play a beneficial role in the neoadjuvant setting for this subgroup.”
Of the 386 patients from 17 centers in China who were screened for this trial, 72 were randomly assigned 1:1 to receive therapy. The objective response rate with neoadjuvant erlotinib was 54.1% versus 34.3% with gemcitabine/cisplatin chemotherapy. In addition, the median progression-free survival was 21.5 months with erlotinib compared with 11.9 months with gemcitabine/cisplatin. In terms of toxicity, there were no grade 3 and 4 toxicities in the erlotinib arm compared with 29.4% in the gemcitabine/cisplatin arm.
