• M Schuler, J C-H Yang, K Park, J-H Kim, J Bennouna, Y-M Chen, C Chouaid, F De Marinis, J-F Feng, F Grossi, D-W Kim, X Liu, S Lu, J Strausz, Y Vinnyk, R Wiewrodt, C Zhou, B Wang, V K Chand, D Planchard, and LUX-Lung 5 Investigators.
• West German Cancer Center, University Hospital Essen, University Duisburg-Essen, Essen German Cancer Research Center, German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Heidelberg, Germany martin.schuler@uk-essen.de.
• Ann. Oncol. 2016 Mar 1; 27 (3): 417-23.

BackgroundAfatinib has demonstrated clinical benefit in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer progressing after treatment with erlotinib/gefitinib. This phase III trial prospectively assessed whether continued irreversible ErbB-family blockade with afatinib plus paclitaxel has superior outcomes versus switching to chemotherapy alone in patients acquiring resistance to erlotinib/gefitinib and afatinib monotherapy.Patients And MethodsPatients with relapsed/refractory disease following ≥1 line of chemotherapy, and whose tumors had progressed following initial disease control (≥12 weeks) with erlotinib/gefitinib and thereafter afatinib (50 mg/day), were randomized 2:1 to receive afatinib plus paclitaxel (40 mg/day; 80 mg/m(2)/week) or investigator's choice of single-agent chemotherapy. The primary end point was progression-free survival (PFS). Other end points included objective response rate (ORR), overall survival (OS), safety and patient-reported outcomes.ResultsTwo hundred and two patients with progressive disease following clinical benefit from afatinib were randomized to afatinib plus paclitaxel (n = 134) or single-agent chemotherapy (n = 68). PFS (median 5.6 versus 2.8 months, hazard ratio 0.60, P = 0.003) and ORR (32.1% versus 13.2%, P = 0.005) significantly improved with afatinib plus paclitaxel. There was no difference in OS. Global health status/quality of life was maintained with afatinib plus paclitaxel over the entire treatment period. The median treatment duration was 133 and 51 days with afatinib plus paclitaxel and single-agent chemotherapy, respectively; 48.5% of patients receiving afatinib plus paclitaxel and 30.0% of patients receiving single-agent chemotherapy experienced drug-related grade 3/4 adverse events. Treatment-related adverse events were consistent with those previously reported with each agent.ConclusionAfatinib plus paclitaxel improved PFS and ORR compared with single-agent chemotherapy in patients who acquired resistance to erlotinib/gefitinib and progressed on afatinib after initial benefit. LUX-Lung 5 is the first prospective trial to demonstrate the benefit of continued ErbB targeting post-progression, versus switching to single-agent chemotherapy.Trial Registration NumberNCT01085136 (clinicaltrials.gov).© The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society for Medical Oncology.

33 keywords...

hide…