Study shows ivonescimab improves progression-free survival in EGFR+ lung cancer

For patients with non-small cell lung cancer with the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) variant, ivonescimab plus chemotherapy improves progression-free survival, according to a study published online May 31 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) to coincide with the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, held from May 31 to June 4 in Chicago.

Wenfeng Fang, M.D., Ph.D., from the Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center in Guangzhou, China, and colleagues compared the efficacy of ivonescimab plus chemotherapy to chemotherapy alone for patients with relapsed advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer with the EGFR variant in a double-blind, randomized phase 3 trial. A total of 322 eligible participants were enrolled at 55 sites in China. Participants received either ivonescimab or placebo plus pemetrexed and carboplatin once every three weeks for four cycles, followed by maintenance therapy (161 in each group).

The researchers found that median progression-free survival was 7.1 versus 4.8 months in the ivonescimab versus placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.46). The progression-free survival benefit favoring patients receiving ivonescimab versus placebo was seen across almost all subgroups, including those whose disease progressed while receiving third-generation EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy and those with brain metastases (hazard ratios, 0.48 and 0.40, respectively).

The objective response rates were 50.6 and 35.4 percent for ivonescimab and placebo, respectively. The median overall survival data were not mature.

“Ivonescimab plus chemotherapy significantly improved progression-free survival in patients with non-small cell lung cancer whose disease progressed while receiving EGFR-TKI treatment,” the authors write. “The safety profile was tolerable and manageable.”

One author disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical industry; the study was funded by Akeso Biopharma, which developed ivonescimab.

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