Author of

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  P3.11 - Poster Session 3 - NSCLC Novel Therapies (ID 211)

  • Event: WCLC 2013
  • Type: Poster Session
  • Track: Medical Oncology
  • Presentations: 1
  • Moderators:
  • Coordinates: 10/30/2013, 09:30 - 16:30, Exhibit Hall, Ground Level

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    P3.11-023 - Comparative safety profile of afatinib in Asian and non-Asian patients with EGFR mutation-positive (EGFR M+) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (ID 2141)

    09:30 - 09:30  |  Author(s): R. Lorence
    • Abstract

    Background
    Afatinib is an oral, irreversible ErbB Family Blocker which showed superior efficacy to standard first-line chemotherapy in two large randomized Phase III trials in global (LUX-Lung 3) and Asian (LUX-Lung 6) EGFR M+ patients. In both trials, median progression-free survival on afatinib was 11 months by independent review. This was also reflected in median treatment duration of 11–12 months in both trials. With long-term treatment duration, the safety profile of afatinib becomes particularly relevant to patients and physicians, and needs to be well characterized. Furthermore, differences in the pattern of some adverse events (AEs; notably interstitial lung disease [ILD]) have been previously described in Asian and non-Asian patients with reversible EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Here, we present a detailed review of afatinib’s safety profile in Asian and non-Asian patients.

    Methods
    229 (LUX-Lung 3) and 239 (LUX-Lung 6) EGFR M+ patients were treated with afatinib 40mg daily until progression or intolerable AEs. Afatinib dose could be escalated to 50mg daily or reduced to 30mg or 20mg based on predefined study criteria. Patients from both trials were grouped according to ethnicity: Asian vs. non-Asian. On-treatment AEs were summarized by preferred/grouped terms and graded using NCI-CTCAEv3.0.

    Results
    404 Asian (66% China/Taiwan; 16% Southeast Asia; 13% Japan; 5% Korea) and 64 non-Asian patients (95% Caucasian; 3% American-Indian; 2% African-American) received afatinib, with median exposure of 359 and 261 days, respectively. There was no difference in afatinib pharmacokinetic exposure in Asian vs. non-Asian patients. All patients reported at least one AE. Most common AEs were EGFR-mediated and are summarized in the table. Figure 1 Drug-related AEs leading to discontinuation were slightly higher in Asian patients, but at a rate lower than with chemotherapy (28%). Related ILD-like events occurred in four Asian patients (three Grade ≥3) and no non-Asian patients.

    Conclusion
    Most common drug-related AEs with afatinib were EGFR mediated and occurred at similar frequency in Asian and non-Asian patients. Treatment discontinuation due to EGFR-related AEs was low in both groups, indicating that afatinib has a manageable safety profile in both populations and is suitable for long-term treatment of EGFR M+ NSCLC patients.