SITC 2020: Vactosertib Plus Durvalumab in PD-L1–Positive NSCLC
Posted: Wednesday, November 25, 2020
The efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors may be augmented by targeting transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) through the correction of tumor microenvironment or enhanced antitumor immunity. Byoung Chul Cho, MD, PhD, of the Yonsei Cancer Center, Seoul, and colleagues conducted a study to examine the combination of durvalumab and the TGF-β receptor type 1 kinase inhibitor vactosertib in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that progressed after platinum-based chemotherapy. Their findings were presented at the 2020 Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Annual Meeting (Abstract 363) and published in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer.
“The combination of vactosertib and durvalumab has demonstrated a manageable safety profile and encouraged antitumor activity as a potential therapeutic strategy in patients with advanced NSCLC,” the researchers concluded. “The efficacy outcomes of this combination in a larger number of patients with advanced NSCLC will be followed.”
This phase Ib/IIa study recruited a total of 26 participants; all had PD-L1–positive disease and no prior exposure to TGF-β receptor type 1 kinase inhibitors or immune checkpoint inhibitors. Patients were treated with 200 mg of vactosertib twice daily for 5 days a week, as well as 1,500 mg of durvalumab every 4 weeks. The time to response, objective response rate, duration of response, and safety were evaluated. The median number of previous chemotherapy lines was one.
The most common treatment-related adverse events reported were skin rash (34.6%) and itching (38.5%), yet none were reported to be grade 3 or higher. Adrenal insufficiency, pneumonitis, and anemia were all observed as grade 3 treatment-related adverse events, and grade 4 creatine phosphokinase increase was reported in one participant. The objective response rates in patients with PD-L1 expression of at least 1% and PD-L1 of at least 25% were 30.8% and 40.0%, respectively.
Disclosure: For full disclosures of the study authors, visit jitc.bmj.com.
