In this ESMO 2023, Gilead Sciences presented the Preliminary results from the Phase II TROPiCS-03 basket trial investigating sacituzumab govitecan-hziy, a Trop-2 directed ADC. The drug also known as Trodelvy is approved for various indications including mTNBC, Pretreated HR+/HER2- breast cancer, and metastatic urothelial cancer. The drug is also being investigated in patients with non-small cell lung cancer. 

As per the data cutoff in July 2023, the drug exhibited an objective response rate (ORR) of 37% with a 95% confidence interval of 20-56%. The DCR was 87%, the clinical benefit rate was 40% and the median duration of response was 6.3 months. Approximately 77% of the patients with post-baseline tumor assessment had tumor reduction and 43% of the patients with post-baseline tumor assessment had tumor reduction of more than 30%. 

The safety results were consistent with the observed safety parameters in other cancer types. All patients had some sort of treatment-emergent adverse event but no treatment-emergent adverse event led to any treatment discontinuation. Some of the adverse events seen were Diarrhea, Neutropenia, constipation, fatigue, and others. 

The drug demonstrated effective results in second-line ES-SCLC patients with manageable safety Managing extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer poses substantial therapeutic complexities with very few successful therapeutic developments for the patients suffering from it. After more than decades of hard work, the researchers have established the combination of immunotherapy and chemotherapy. Small-cell lung cancer accounts for approximately 10-15% of all cancer cases and is further divided into limited and ES-SCLC.profiles. The study is ongoing and they will post the updated results in the future. 

KOL insights

“Around 77% of the patients who underwent post-baseline tumor assessment witnessed a reduction in their tumors, and 43% of them achieved a reduction exceeding 30%. Furthermore, only a small number of patients exhibited initial disease progression in their first imaging evaluation..” –MD, US.

Conclusion

SCLC patients may respond to initial line therapies. Treatment of the relapsed pool is still an important consideration for the researchers. To overcome the barriers and help patients with a better quality of life many big Pharma players including Gilead, Kite Oncology and many more are investigating their potential candidates. Trodelvy demonstrated effective results in the second-line setting and showed manageable safety profiles, if approved the drug will mark a sizeable contribution to this indication. 

For more insight into the patient's burden/epidemiology, treatment, and changing market landscape-related advancements, refer to the Extensive-Stage Small Cell Lung Cancer (ESCLC) Market Insight And Market Forecast Report and Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Market Insight and Market Forecast Report