In May 31-June 4 thr Ass.-Prof. of Oncology Department of the Shupyk NMAPE Olga Ponomaryova took part in The 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting, taking place in Chicago (Il., USA). This outstanding global oncological event broght together more than 32,000 oncology professionals from across the whole world.
More than 2,400 abstracts were accepted for presentation at the Annual Meeting, and more than 3,200 additional abstracts were accepted for online publication. A lot of very interesting news in the field of clinical oncology were presented during the conference.
One of the highlights of the Congress was the presentation by Roche of the results from a pre-specified exploratory analysis from the Phase III IMpower150 study. This data showed that the addition of Tecentriq to the combination of avastin and chemotherapy gave patients with chemotherapy-naïve non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) a striking survival benefit. After a disappointing high-profile phase III failure in ovarian cancer last year, lurbinectedin has become a therapeutic alternative for patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC), a pathology with no second-line option for more than 20 years.
But not everything was related to lung cancer! An inhibitor of CDK4/6 from Novartis (Kisqali) in combination with hormone therapy extended the life of women with luminal metastatic breast cancer in the Phase III MONALEESA-7 trial. OS rates in the intent-to-treat population at 42 months were 70% in comparison to 46% for hormone therapy alone. Moreover, the addition of Kisqali to an aromatase inhibitor or tamoxifen reached 30% and 20.9% of the survival benefit of both combinations respectively.
Phase III PACIFIC trial results for Imfinzi (durvalumab) in unresectable, Stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were discussed over the weekend. The summed up of the results was expressed in a short statement, “sustainable, overall survival.” A presentation of a post-hoc analysis of the trial showed longer OS evidence in patients with this particular kind of cancer, the only immunotherapy to demonstrate this kind of survivability for this cancer, the company said. The OS rate was 57% at three years for patients receiving Imfinzi vs. 43.5% for placebo following concurrent chemoradiation therapy (CRT). Median OS was not yet reached with the Imfinzi arm versus 29.1 months for placebo. The post-hoc analysis provided an additional year of follow-up data that showed Imfinzi provided consistent efficacy, maintaining a 31% reduction in the risk of death vs. placebo after CRT.
AstraZeneca also presented additional data from its Phase III POLO trial. Data presented by AstraZeneca and Merck showed Lynparza, a PARP inhibitor, demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) as first-line maintenance therapy alone in patients with germline BRCA-mutated (gBRCAm) metastatic adenocarcinoma of the pancreas in patients who haven’t responded to platinum-based chemotherapy. Lynparza reduced the risk of disease progression by 47% compared to placebo. The median PFS for patients treated with Lynparza was 7.4 months, compared to 3.8 months for those on placebo. The companies said there were more than twice as many patients remaining progression free at both one year, 34% to 15% and two years, 22% vs. 10%, respectively.
Sanofi have presented the data from the Phase III ICARIA-MM trial demonstrated that isatuximab added to pomalidomide and dexamethasone showed statistically significant improvements compared to pomalidomide and dexamethasone alone in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM). Isatuximab is an investigational monoclonal antibody that targets a specific epitope on the CD38 receptor of a plasma cell. The isatuximab combination therapy showed a statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival of 95%. Also, Sanofi said the median progression-free survival was longer in the isatuximab combination therapy arm than pom-dex alone, 11.53 months vs. 6.47 months. Sanofi also reported that the isatuximab combination therapy demonstrated a significantly greater overall response rate, compared to pom-dex alone 60% vs. 35%.
Spectrum Pharmaceuticals presented the news, concerning possibilities of neutropenia overcoming. Nevada-based Spectrum announced integrated analysis results from two Phase III clinical trials of Rolontis, a long-acting granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) being studied as a treatment for neutropenia in patients undergoing myelosuppressive cytotoxic chemotherapy. The analysis found that integrated efficacy and safety data from the two trials, ADVANCE and RECOVER, were consistent with results from the individual trials. The data demonstrated that Rolontis was non-inferior to pegfilgrastim in the reduction of duration of severe neutropenia (DSN) in all four cycles of treatment.