The European Commission (EC) has approved Novartis’ Tabrecta (capmatinib) as a monotherapy for the treatment of adults with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harboring alterations leading to mesenchymal-epithelial-transition factor gene (MET) exon 14 (METex14) skipping who require systemic therapy following prior treatment with immunotherapy and/or platinum-based chemotherapy.
The approval follows a positive opinion issued in April by the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and is applicable to all 27 European Union member states plus Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein.
“Patients with METex14 skipping alterations typically have a more advanced form of lung cancer that is often associated with a poor prognosis and limited response to standard therapy, including immunotherapy,” said Juergen Wolf, MD, from the Center for Integrated Oncology, University Hospital Cologne, Germany, and lead investigator of the GEOMETRY mono-1 trial.
“With the approval of Tabrecta in Europe, supported by advances in biomarker testing that can help doctors direct treatment more precisely, patients with this specific genomic profile have a new targeted treatment option that can lead to improved outcomes.”
The approval is based on results from the Phase II GEOMETRY mono-1 trial that demonstrated positive overall response rates (ORR) among adult patients with advanced NSCLC whose tumors had alterations leading to METex14 skipping.
In the study, among 31 patients who received Tabrecta as second- (n=30) or later-line (n=1) therapy in the METex14 skipping pretreated population, a confirmed ORR of 51.6% (95% CI, 33.1-69.8) was achieved, and the ORR across all 100 previously-treated patients, which included patients who received one or more prior lines of systemic therapy, was 44.0% (95% CI, 34.1-54.3).
The most common treatment-related adverse events (AEs) (incidence ≥20%) were peripheral oedema, nausea, fatigue, increased blood creatinine, vomiting, dyspnea, decreased appetite and back pain.
“As the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, lung cancer can be a devastating diagnosis for patients and their families,” said Marie-France Tschudin, president, Innovative Medicines International & chief commercial officer, Novartis. “With this new targeted therapy that treats a specific mutation driving cancer growth, we are delivering a much-needed treatment option and bringing hope to patients with this challenging disease.”
In the European Union, there are an estimated 291,000 patients with locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC. METex14 skipping, a recognized oncogenic driver, occurs in approximately 3-4% of NSCLC cases.
