Boehringer Ingelheim reports positive Giotrif lung cancer data

Boehringer Ingelheim has announced the findings of a new clinical trial analysis that demonstrates the benefits its drug Giotrif can offer to lung cancer patients.

New results from a post-hoc analysis combining the data of two recent phase III trials – LUX-Lung 3 and LUX-Lung 6 – revealed that Giotrif is the first treatment to demonstrate significant overall survival benefit for patients with a specific type of lung cancer.

People with non-small cell lung cancer with common epidermal growth factor receptor (EFGR) mutations were shown to generally live longer when receiving Boehringer Ingelheim's drug than when being treated with chemotherapy, surviving for an additional three months on average.

Meanwhile, a separate study – LUX-Lung 5 – showed the advantage of continuing Giotrif with chemotherapy if the lung cancer progressed after receiving Giotrif alone.

Professor Klaus Dugi, chief medical officer at Boehringer Ingelheim, said: "Lung cancer is not just one disease, and we are proud to be conducting research on afatinib in a variety of treatment settings that may ultimately expand treatment options for patients."

This comes after the product received a recommendation from the UK's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence earlier this month for the treatment of EGFR-TK mutation-positive forms of lung cancer.