Dr. Bourhis on the Rationale to Explore Debio 1143 in Head and Neck Cancer

Jean Bourhis, MD, PhD, Radiation Oncology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, discusses the rationale to explore Debio 1143 in patients with head and neck cancer.

The current standard of care for patients with locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck is concurrent chemoradiation. However, a subset of these patients have a high risk of relapse, says Bourhis. Once patients relapse, there are limited treatment options available. Given this high unmet clinical need, researchers sought to evaluate the addition of Debio 1143 to concurrent high-dose cisplatin and chemoradiation as a way to overcome resistance to chemoradiation.

In preclinical models, Debio 1143 had shown promising antitumor activity in combination with cisplatin and radiation, says Bourhis. Accordingly, investigators launched a phase I/II trial (NCT02022098), in which the recommended phase II dose of Debio 1143 was compared with placebo in combination with concurrent chemoradiation.