Skip to main content

Adjuvant Alectinib Improves Disease-Free Survival in Lung Cancer

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on April 12, 2024.

By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, April 12, 2024 -- Adjuvant alectinib improves disease-free survival compared with platinum-based chemotherapy among patients with resected ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to a study published in the April 11 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Yi-Long Wu, M.D., from the Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute in Guangzhou, China, and colleagues conducted a global, phase 3, open-label, randomized trial involving patients with completely resected, ALK-positive NSCLC of stage IB, II, or IIIA. Participants were randomly assigned to receive oral alectinib (600 mg twice daily) for 24 months or intravenous platinum-based chemotherapy in four 21-day cycles (130 and 127 patients, respectively).

The researchers found that the percentage of patients alive and disease-free was 93.8 and 63.0 percent in the alectinib and chemotherapy groups, respectively, at two years, among patients with stage II or IIIA disease (hazard ratio for disease recurrence or death, 0.24), and 93.6 and 63.7 percent, respectively, in the intention-to-treat population (hazard ratio, 0.24). A clinically meaningful benefit with respect to central nervous system disease-free survival was seen in association with alectinib versus chemotherapy (hazard ratio, 0.22). The overall survival data were immature. There were no unexpected safety findings.

"The disease-free survival benefit was seen consistently across prespecified subgroups, including those defined according to disease stage, race, sex, and smoking status," the authors write.

The study was funded by F. Hoffmann-La Roche, the manufacturer of alectinib.

Abstract/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)

Editorial (subscription or payment may be required)

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Read this next

ASCO: Ivonescimab Improves Progression-Free Survival in EGFR+ Lung Cancer

THURSDAY, June 6, 2024 -- For patients with non-small cell lung cancer with the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) variant, ivonescimab plus chemotherapy improves...

ASCO: Osimertinib Improves Progression-Free Survival in EGFR-Mutated Lung Cancer

WEDNESDAY, June 5, 2024 -- For patients with unresectable stage III EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), treatment with osimertinib results in significantly longer...

ASCO: Stepped-Care Model Noninferior to Early Palliative Care for Advanced Cancer

TUESDAY, June 4, 2024 -- For patients with advanced lung cancer, a stepped-care model with palliative care visits occurring at key points in patients' cancer trajectory is...

More news resources

Subscribe to our newsletter

Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.