JAVELIN Medley VEGF: Monoclonal Antibody Plus VEGFR Inhibitor Studied in NSCLC
Posted: Friday, January 22, 2021
The combination of avelumab and axitinib showed both antitumor activity and a manageable safety profile in patients with locally advanced or metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to the results of a phase II trial, JAVELIN Medley VEGF, presented during the 2020 Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Annual Meeting (Abstract 281) and also in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer. This finding was consistent with the study results of each drug alone and in combination, noted Gabriella Galffy, MD, of Pulmonology Hospital Törökbálint in Hungary, and colleagues. Avelumab is an anti–PD-L1 monoclonal antibody, and axitinib is an inhibitor of VEGFR 1, 2, and 3.
The 41 participating patients had received one or more prior platinum-containing therapy and two or more prior lines of systemic therapy for locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC. Still, they were naive to immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. During the trial, they received avelumab at 800 mg intravenously every 2 weeks plus axitinib at 5 mg orally twice daily. The primary endpoint was confirmed objective response per investigator assessment, and secondary endpoints included progression-free survival and safety.
“Responses were observed regardless of PD-L1 expression status,” stated Dr. Galffy and co-investigators. The confirmed objective response rate was 31.7%; 16 patients (39.0%) had stable disease. Median progression-free survival was 5.5 months. Treatment-related adverse events of grade 3 or higher occurred in 24 patients (58.5%). The most common treatment-related adverse event was hypertension, although one patient died of gastric perforation, deemed a treatment-related adverse event.
Disclosure: For full disclosures of the study authors, visit jitc.bmj.com.
