Marina C. Garassino, MD

Marina C. Garassino, MD, medical consultant, Thoracic Unit, Fondazione IRCCS  Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan, Italy, discusses the results from the randomized phase III RELAY trial, in which the combination of ramucirumab (Cyramza) plus erlotinib (Tarceva) was compared to erlotinib plus placebo in patients with EGFR-mutated non&ndash;small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). These data were presented at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Overall, the median progression-free survival (PFS) was 19.4 months by investigator assessment in the ramucirumab/erlotinib arm versus 12.4 months in the erlotinib-alone arm (HR, 0.591; 95% CI, 0.461-0.760; P <.0001). Garassino says it is still early for the overall survival data as they have not yet matured, but the results suggest that the PFS2 is longer in the combination arm as well. She also notes that the toxicity profile was manageable with the combination regimen.

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Marina C. Garassino, MD, medical consultant, Thoracic Unit, Fondazione IRCCS &ndash; Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan, Italy, discusses the results from the randomized phase III RELAY trial, in which the combination of ramucirumab plus erlotinib was compared to erlotinib plus placebo in patients with EGFR-mutated non&ndash;small cell lung cancer. These data were presented at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Interpreting the Role of the Ramucirumab Plus Erlotinib Combination in EGFR+ NSCLC

Marina C. Garassino, MD, medical consultant in the Medical Oncology Division, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan, Italy, discusses current advancements with immunotherapy as first- and second-line treatments for patients with lung cancer.

Studies have shown increased survival of 30 months in patients with more than 50% PD-L1 expression in nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) when treated with pembrolizumab (Keytruda), as opposed to the historical rate of 17 months. Some other drugs also available for second-line treatment depending on PD-L1 expression include nivolumab (Opdivo) and atezolizumab (Tecentriq).

Several immunotherapy agents are currently being studied in various trials. Garassino points out the importance of the PACIFIC trial of durvalumab (Imfinzi) after chemoradiotherapy in locally advanced NSCLC, which has paved the way for other immunotherapy agents as treatment for patients with lung cancer.

Marina C. Garassino, MD | Authors

Articles

Interpreting the Role of the Ramucirumab Plus Erlotinib Combination in EGFR+ NSCLC

Growing Role of Immunotherapy as Treatment for Lung Cancer