CHICAGO -- Adding an investigational TROP2-targeted antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) to first-line immunotherapy for PD-L1-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) reduced the risk of disease progression and may have improved survival as well, interim data from a Chinese phase III study indicated.
Over a median follow-up of 10.5 months, sacituzumab tirumotecan (sac-TMT) plus pembrolizumab (Keytruda) cut the risk for disease progression or death by 65% versus single-agent pembrolizumab (HR 0.35, 95% CI 0.26-0.47, P<0.0001). A median value for progression-free survival (PFS) was not reached in the combination arm as compared with 5.7 months with the PD-1 inhibitor alone, reported Caicun Zhou, MD, PhD, of Shanghai East Hospital.
Including sac-TMT was associated with more toxicity but showed a "clear" early trend for an overall survival (OS) benefit, with an estimated 1-year OS rate of 80% versus 69% with pembrolizumab alone (HR 0.55, 95% CI 0.36-0.85), findings presented here at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting and published simultaneously in The Lancet showed.
"According to the progression-free survival data, I'm sure we can get an overall survival benefit," said Zhou, who pointed out that the OS data remain immature.
