New investigational treatment extends life of lung cancer patients with adenocarcinoma

New research on Canada’s number one cancer killer is further proof that patients need personalized treatments targeted to their specific type of lung cancer for better outcomes. Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd. announced highly anticipated results from the Phase III LUME-Lung 1 study in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS) and the results showed patients treated with nintedanib plus chemotherapy (docetaxel) lived for a median of 3.4 months before their tumour started to grow again, versus 2.7 months with docetaxel alone (HR 0.79; p=0.0019). The study also examined the secondary endpoint of overall survival (OS), and in the process uncovered a specific group of patients who respond particularly well to the combination therapy. The trial examined a sub-group of patients with adenocarcinoma histology – the most common type of NSCLC. It showed that patients with adenocarcinoma whose disease progressed during first-line therapy or shortly after lived for an additional 2.3 months in the nintedanib combination treatment arm versus with docetaxel alone. Specifically, the median overall survival (the gold standard measure of success in lung cancer treatment) was 12.6 months in the nintedanib combination treatment arm versus 10.3 months with docetaxel alone (HR 0.75; p=0.0073).