Boehringer Ingelheim reports positive lung cancer drug trial data

Boehringer Ingelheim has announced positive clinical trial data from two phase III clinical trials showing how its drug Giotrif can benefit patients affected by a specific form of lung cancer.

Published in The Lancet Oncology, the results from the LUX-Lung 3 and LUX-Lung 6 studies demonstrated the overall survival benefits associated with the drug amon epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation-positive patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Specifically, patients whose tumours had the most common EGFR mutation – deletion in exon 19 (Del19) – lived more than one year longer when treated with first-line Giotrif compared to standard chemotherapy.

Both studies therefore met their primary endpoint of progression-free survival, as the drug was shown to significantly delay tumour growth.

Professor Gerd Stehle, vice-president for oncology at Boehringer Ingelheim, said: "This is the first time a targeted agent in the first-line setting has shown an overall survival benefit for NSCLC patients with the Del19 EGFR mutation."

This comes after the firm recently reported subgroup analysis data showing the benefits Giotrif can specifically offer to Asian NSCLC patients.