WCLC 2018: Poziotinib in NSCLC With Genetic Mutations
Posted: Friday, October 19, 2018
Poziotinib may prove to be effective in the treatment of patients with stage 4 EGFR- or HER2 exon 20–mutant non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The antitumor activity of this inhibitor of EGFR or HER2 exon 20 mutants was observed in patients who had not received tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) as well as in those who no longer responded to TKIs. These early study results were presented by John V. Heymach, MD, PhD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) 19th World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) in Toronto (Abstract OA02.06).
“These findings confirm earlier observations that poziotinib is highly active against this previously untargetable mutation, and durable responses are observed, with some patients on treatment now for more than a year,” said Dr. Heymach in a press release from MD Anderson Cancer Center.
In this ongoing phase II trial, 24 of 44 patients (55%) who had EGFR-mutant NSCLC as well as 6 of 12 patients (50%) who had HER2-mutant NSCLC experienced tumor shrinkage 8 weeks after treatment with poziotinib. The objective response rate at 8 weeks was 58%. The median progression-free survival for patients with EGFR-mutant NSCLC was 5.6 months.
In the EGFR-mutant cohort, nearly 60% of patients experienced grade 3 or higher adverse events, the most common treatment-related adverse events were skin rash, diarrhea, and paronychia. One death from pneumonitis in the HER2 cohort was thought to be possibly treatment-related.
