Advanced NSCLC: Tepotinib for MET Exon 14 Skipping Mutation
Posted: Wednesday, August 12, 2020
Targeted drug therapy with the MET inhibitor tepotinib may prove to be an effective treatment for patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have the MET exon 14 skipping mutation, according to the phase II VISION trial published in The New England Journal of Medicine. In fact, nearly half of study patients had a partial response to tepotinib treatment.
“The success of this trial, alongside other studies on the same class of drugs, establishes MET exon 14 as an actionable target for NSCLC,” commented Xiuning Le, MD, PhD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, in an institutional press release. “We’re pleased to show that another group of lung cancer patients may benefit from precision medicine.”
After more than 6,700 patients with NSCLC were prescreened, a total of 152 patients with advanced NSCLC and MET exon 14 skipping mutation were enrolled in the study. All patients were administered a 500-mg oral daily dose of tepotinib for the duration of the trial, regardless of whether they had received prior treatment.
Following a 9-month period, the investigators reported a 46.5% objective response rate and a durable response of 11.1 months with tepotinib treatment. In addition, 27.6% of patients had grade 3 treatment-related adverse effects including peripheral edema.
Moreover, the study authors examined liquid biopsy samples to confirm responses to tepotinib. Using next-generation sequencing, they observed that 31 of 54 patients had a complete or deep reduction in their mutation. Also, 68% of patients with a molecular response showed a radiographic response as well.
Disclosure: For full disclosures of the authors, visit nejm.org.
