Better treatment perspective for Asian lung cancer patients

The data were presented today at the 2014 IASLCAsia Pacific Lung Cancer Conference in Kuala Lumpur.

Professor Yi-Long Wu from the Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, and principal investigator of the LUX-Lung 6 trial commented, “Afatinib is the first treatment to demonstrate a significant overall survival benefit for NSCLC patients with the del19 mutation, the most common EGFR mutation. Therefore, EGFR testing for NSCLC patients is important in order to identify the patients eligible for targeted therapy."

In Asia, more than 900,000 new cases of lung cancer are diagnosed each year and more than half of the world’s lung cancer cases reportedly occur in Asia.

The prevalence of EGFR mutations in Asian NSCLC patients is approximately 40 per cent, and del19 accounts for 50 per cent of these mutations, representing a substantial group of lung cancer patients who could potentially benefit from treatment with afatinib.

Previously reported data from the LUX-Lung 3 trial showed afatinib provided further benefits to NSCLC patients with common EGFR mutations (del19 and L858R), which account for 90 per cent of all EGFR mutations.

Patients taking afatinib were also reported to prolong survival time without their tumour growing, experience an improvement in lung cancer-related symptoms (cough, shortness of breath, chest pain) and a significantly better quality of life, when compared with chemotherapy.

Afatinib (GIOTRIF®/GILOTRIF®) is indicated for the treatment of distinct types of EGFR mutation-positive NSCLC. In this indication, afatinib is approved in a number of markets, including the EU, Canada, and also in several countries in Asia such as Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore and Malaysia, under the brand name GIOTRIF® and in the U.S. under the brand name GILOTRIF®.

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