The third-generation epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor osimertinib (Tagrisso) is effective in the first-line treatment of EGFR-mutated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to a late-breaking abstract presented by Ramalingam et al (Abstract LBA1_PR) on April 14 at the European Lung Cancer Conference (ELCC) 2016 in Geneva, Switzerland. A second late-breaking abstract by Yang et al (Abstract LBA2_PR) confirms the drug’s effectiveness in patients with the EGFR T790M point mutation.
EGFR inhibition is the standard of care for NSCLC patients with EGFR-activating mutations, but nearly 50% to 60% of patients develop resistance by developing a T790M mutation. Osimertinib is a potent inhibitor of the originalEGFR mutations (exon 19 and exon 21) and the T790M mutation.
EGFR-Mutated Study Findings
The first study presented investigated whether the use of osimertinib as first-line therapy for EGFR-mutated NSCLC would result in favorable efficacy due to delayed T790M-mediated resistance. It included 60 patients from two phase I expansion cohorts of the AURA trial diagnosed with locally advanced or metastatic EGFR-mutated NSCLC. Thirty patients received 80 mg/d and 30 received 160 mg/d in the first-line setting. The median follow-up was 16.6 months. Read more…