A Randomized Phase 2 Study Comparing the Combination of Ficlatuzumab and Gefitinib with Gefitinib Alone in Asian Patients with Advanced Stage Pulmonary Adenocarcinoma

Introduction: A randomized phase 2 study was designed to compare the combination of ficlatuzumab (AV-299), a humanized hepatocyte growth factor-neutralizing monoclonal antibody, plus gefitinib versus gefitinib monotherapy in a pulmonary adenocarcinoma population clinically enriched for EFGR tyrosine kinase inhibitor-sensitizing mutations.

Methods: A total of 188 patients were randomized 1:1 to receive either gefitinib or ficlatuzumab plus gefitinib treatment. Patients who demonstrated disease control in the single-agent gefitinib arm were allowed to cross over to ficlatuzumab plus gefitinib treatment upon disease progression. Molecular analyses included tumor EGFR mutation status and retrospective proteomic testing using VeriStrat, a multivariate test based on mass spectrometry.

Results: The addition of ficlatuzumab to gefitinib did not provide significant improvement over gefitinib monotherapy for the primary end point of overall response rate or the secondary end points of progression-free survival and overall survival. In the subgroup classified as VeriStrat poor, the addition of ficlatuzumab to gefitinib showed significant improvement in both progression-free survival and overall survival in both the intent-to-treat population and the subgroup with EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor-sensitizing mutations. For all patients, the most frequent adverse events were diarrhea, dermatitis acneiform, and paronychia.

Conclusions: Although the trial showed no significant benefit from the addition of ficlatuzumab to gefitinib in the overall population of Asian patients with advanced-stage pulmonary adenocarcinoma, the biomarker data suggest that patients classified as VeriStrat poor may benefit from ficlatuzumab combination therapy.