
“I think it’s really important that people keep signing up to these type of trials to push research forward.”
This trial compared chemotherapy with osimertinib as a second treatment for non small cell lung cancer.
The trial was for people with non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that had:
The trial was open for people to join between 2014 and 2015. Researchers published the results in 2017.
Some non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells have changes to certain . For example, a change in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene. If your lung cancer cells have these receptors it is called
cancer.
One of the usual treatments is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor drug such as erlotinib. But sometimes cancer develops resistance and treatment stops working. This is due to another gene change called T790M. The usual second treatment is chemotherapy.
Researchers are looking for ways to improve treatment. In this trial, they looked at a drug called osimertinib (AZD9291).
The main aims of this trial were to:
The trial team found that osimertinib worked better than chemotherapy in people with NSCLC that had become resistant to treatment. This includes those whose cancer had spread to the brain or spinal cord.
About this trial
419 people took part in this phase 3 trial. They were put into 1 of 2 treatment groups at random:
People were 2 times more likely to have osimertinib.
Results
Researchers looked at how well treatment worked. The average follow up was 8.3 months. They looked at the number of people alive whose cancer had started to grow again. This was:
They also looked at how long before the cancer started to grow again. On average this was:
Of those:
Researchers looked at how well treatment worked in these groups. They looked at the number of people whose cancer had either gone away or shrunk. This is a complete or partial response.
In people who had 1 or more areas of cancer this was:
In people with areas that they either could or couldn’t measure this was:
They looked at how long people with cancer in the brain lived before it got worse. This was:
In the osimertinib group the most common side effects were:
The most common side effects of chemotherapy were:
Conclusion
The trial team found that osimertinib worked better than chemotherapy for people with T790M positive NSCLC. Including those who had cancer in the brain or spinal cord. And the side effects were manageable.
We have based this summary on information from the research team. The information they sent us has been reviewed by independent specialists () and published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team who did the research. We have not analysed the data ourselves.
Please note: In order to join a trial you will need to discuss it with your doctor, unless otherwise specified.
Dr Fiona Blackhall
AstraZeneca
Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC)
If you have questions about the trial please contact our cancer information nurses
Freephone 0808 800 4040
“I think it’s really important that people keep signing up to these type of trials to push research forward.”