Lung Cancer

The combination of osimertinib and the MET inhibitor savolitinib showed signs of efficacy for pretreated patients with MET-positive, EGFR-mutant non–small cell lung cancer.

The FDA has granted a priority review to a supplemental biologics license application for durvalumab (Imfinzi) for the treatment of patients with stage III, unresectable NSCLC.

Second-generation EGFR inhibitor dacomitinib showed clear superiority over first-generation TKI gefitinib (Iressa) in a comparison of performance in EGFR mutation subtypes exon 19 deletion and L858R in advanced NSCLC.

Ramucirumab (Cyramza) plus docetaxel demonstrated an overall survival benefit versus placebo plus docetaxel in patients with advanced NSCLC whose disease rapidly progressed on first-line therapy,

David R. Gandara, MD, director, Thoracic Oncology Program, professor, senior advisor to director, UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses the significance of the phase III FLAURA trial of first-line osimertinib (Tagrisso) in EGFR-mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

D. Ross Camidge, MD, PhD, a professor of medical oncology at the University of Colorado, discusses the results of the ALTA trial, which is exploring brigatinib (Alunbrig) in patients with ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer.

A lower dose of ceritinib taken with a low-fat meal showed similar efficacy with fewer dose reductions and less severe gastrointestinal adverse events versus a 750-mg dose taken without food for patients with untreated ALK-positive metastatic non­–small cell lung cancer.

In addition to proving the superiority of alectinib versus crizotinib, the phase III ALEX trial provided clear guidance on which of 2 assays evaluated could provide stronger guidance on which patients would respond to ALK-specific therapy.

Fred R. Hirsch, MD, PhD, provides highlights of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer 18th World Conference on Lung Cancer, leading with his excitement for updated quality-of-life data from the PACIFIC trial of patients with locally advanced, unresectable stage III non–small cell lung cancer.

The European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has recommended approval of alectinib for the first-line treatment of adults with ALK-positive, advanced non–small cell lung cancer.