Efficacy and Tolerability of Ramucirumab Plus Erlotinib in Taiwanese Patients with Untreated, Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor-Mutated, Stage IV Non-small Cell Lung Cancer in the RELAY Study

Background In RELAY, a randomized, double-blind, phase III trial investigating the efficacy and safety of ramucirumab+erlotinib (RAM+ERL) or ERL+placebo (PBO) in patients with untreated, stage IV, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), RAM+ERL demonstrated superior progression-free survival (PFS) versus PBO+ERL, with no new safety signals.Objective The aim of this paper was to report efficacy and tolerability findings for the Taiwanese participants of RELAY.Patients and Methods Patients were randomized 1:1 to RAM+ERL or ERL+PBO. Primary endpoint was investigator-assessed PFS. Secondary endpoints included objective response rate (ORR), duration of response (DoR) and tolerability. Data for the current analysis are reported descriptively.Results In RELAY, 56 Taiwanese patients were enrolled; 26 received RAM+ERL, 30 received ERL+PBO. The demographic profile of the Taiwanese subgroup was consistent with that of the overall RELAY population. Median PFS for RAM+ERL/ERL+PBO, respectively, was 22.05 months/13.40 months (unstratified hazard ratio 0.4; 95% confidence interval 0.2-0.9); ORR was 92%/60%; median DoR was 18.2 months/12.7 months. All patients experienced one or more treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs); those most commonly reported were diarrhea and dermatitis acneiform (58% each) for RAM+ERL and diarrhea (70%) and paronychia (63%) for PBO+ERL. Grade & GE; 3 TEAEs were experienced by 62%/30% of RAM+ERL/PBO+ERL patients, respectively, and included dermatitis acneiform (19%/7%), hypertension (12%/7%), and pneumonia (12%/0%).Conclusions PFS for the Taiwanese participants of RELAY receiving RAM+ERL versus ERL+PBO was consistent with that in the overall RELAY population. These results, together with no new safety signals and a manageable safety profile, may support first-line use of RAM+ERL in Taiwanese patients with untreated EGFR-mutant stage IV NSCLC.