Zipalertinib plus chemo shows survival benefit in lung cancer trial

Taiho Oncology, Taiho Pharmaceutical, and Cullinan Therapeutics recently shared promising results from a Phase 3 clinical trial. The study focused on zipalertinib in combination with chemotherapy for first-line treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with EGFR exon 20 insertion mutations. The results, presented at a conference in Seoul, South Korea, showed a significant survival advantage for patients receiving the drug combination.

The trial included 279 advanced NSCLC patients with the specific genetic mutation, who had not previously received treatment for advanced disease. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either zipalertinib 100mg twice daily plus chemotherapy, or chemotherapy alone. The combination therapy group had a median progression-free survival of 14.5 months, compared to 8.5 months for those receiving chemotherapy alone.

This represents a 6-month improvement in progression-free survival, with a hazard ratio of 0.50 (95% CI, 0.34-0.73; P=0.00015).

The objective response rate was notably higher in the combination therapy group, at 65.0% versus 40.3% for chemotherapy alone. These results demonstrate the potential of zipalertinib as an effective addition to standard chemotherapy regimens for patients with EGFR exon 20 insertion mutations in NSCLC.