ESMO 2018: Early Results With Novel Monoclonal Antibody in Advanced Lung Cancer
Posted: Thursday, October 25, 2018
According to research recently presented at the 2018 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress in Munich (Abstract 1159P), a novel anti–PD-1 monoclonal antibody, spartalizumab, may prove to be a well-tolerated and effective therapy for patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Chia-Chi Lin, MD, PhD, of the National Taiwan University Hospital, and colleagues presented an analysis of the effect of this treatment specifically on patients with NSCLC who had not received prior anti–PD-L1 therapies.
A total of 118 patients with advanced NSCLC were assigned 1:1 to receive spartalizumab in a dosage of either 300 mg once every 3 weeks or 400 mg once every 4 weeks. All patients in this cohort had received prior treatment, with 27% undergoing at least 2 previous therapies. Of the 77 participants with baseline PD-L1 data, 61% had PD-L1–negative disease, which was also found to be more common in patients undergoing the every-3-week treatment schedule (70%) than those on the every-4-week schedule (52%).
The objective response rate was 6% in patients who had PD-L1−negative disease, 11% in those with PD-L1 express between 1% and 49%, and 19% in those with PD-L1 expression of at least 50%. Overall, the objective response rate was lower for participants taking spartalizumab every 3 weeks (5%) than for those on the every-4-week treatment schedule (14%). However, the objective response rate was comparatively higher for patients who had PD-L1–positive disease, regardless of treatment schedule. Reported adverse events during treatment included diarrhea, decreased appetite, nausea, and hypothyroidism (5% each).
The researchers noted that the observed efficacy was “as expected, given the high proportion of [patients] with PD-L1–negative disease. [Objective response rates] were higher in PD-L1–positive patients, corroborating previous findings that PD-L1 expression enriches for response to anti–PD-1 agents in certain tumor types.”
