The real-world efficacy and safety of anlotinib in advanced non-small cell lung cancer

Purpose Anlotinib is an anti-angiogenetic multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of anlotinib in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (aNSCLC) in the real world. Methods Patients with aNSCLC receiving anlotinib were enrolled in two cohorts (treatment naive and previously treated). The endpoints included progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS) and anlotinib-related adverse events (ar-AEs). Results 203 patients accrued in the study. In the treatment-naive cohort (n = 80), the PFS was 7.4 (95% confidence interval [CI] 4.1-10.7) and OS was 10.8 (95% CI 5.8-15.8) months of monotherapy group (immature survival for combination group). In previously treated cohort (n = 123), the PFS was 8.0 months (95% CI 6.1-9.9) in the combination group and 4.3 months (95% CI 2.1-6.6) in the monotherapy group (hazard ratio [HR] 0.49; 95% CI 0.29-0.83; p = 0.007), respectively. The OS was 18.5 months (95% CI 10.5-26.6) in the combination group and 7.8 months (95% CI 7.1-8.4) in the monotherapy group (HR 0.38; 95% CI 0.22-0.66; p = 0.001), respectively. The ar-AEs of grade >= 3 in the monotherapy and the combination groups were hypertension (9.0 and 8.7%), fatigue (8.1 and 7.6%), hand-foot syndrome (8.1 and 6.5%), diarrhea (5.4 and 8.7%), proteinuria (5.4 and 5.4%), and mucositis oral (6.3 and 8.7%). Conclusion In aNSCLC, anlotinib monotherapy has a promising efficacy in the first-line setting. It may be an option for those who are ineligible for chemotherapy; anlotinib combination therapy in a >= second-line setting showed manageable toxicities and encouraging efficacy, indicating a good application prospect.