A Randomized Phase III Multicenter Trial of Customized Chemotherapy Versus Standard of Care for 1St Line Treatment of Elderly Patients with Advanced Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer (Nsclc): the Elderly Patient Individualized Chemotherapy (Epic) Trial

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background: Phase III trial aiming to compare first line pharmacogenomic-driven chemotherapy based on Excision-Repair-Cross-Complementing-1 (ERCC1, E), Ribonucleotide Reductase subunit M1 (RRM1, R) and Thymidylate Synthase (TS, T) gene expression versus standard treatment in elderly patients (pts) with advanced NSCLC. Trial design: pts aged ≥70 years, ECOG Performance Status 0 or 1, EGFR negative mutational status, chemonaive stage IV NSCLC will be evaluated. Pts will be randomized (2:1) to experimental arm (A) or standard arm (B). In arm A, treatment will be based on histology, E, R and T mRNA expression. The cut-off for high or low expression have been previously defined. Treatments for pts with squamous NSCLC: carboplatin for E low/R high, gemcitabine for E high/R low, carboplatin and gemcitabine for E low/R low, docetaxel or vinorelbine for E high/R high. Treatments for non-squamous NSCLC pts: carboplatin for E low/T high, pemetrexed for E high/T low, carboplatin and pemetrexed for E low/T low, gemcitabine for E high/T high/R low, docetaxel or vinorelbine for E high/T high/R high. In arm B treatment will be at the investigator discretion. The primary endpoint is overall survival. The secondary endpoints are progression-free survival, response rate (RECIST 1.1) and tolerability (CTCAE version 4.0). Feasibility of treatment selection based on pharmacogenomic parameters will be also assessed. Treatment will continue to a maximum of 6 cycles if tolerated or until disease progression. Assuming an exponential survival distribution for both arms and a median survival time of 8 months in the control arm, we anticipate to detect an improvement of 3 months in the median survival time in the experimental arm. To have 90% power to detect a three-month improvement in median survival at a significance level of 5% (2-sided) and assuming a 10% failure rate in gene analyses or loss to follow-up rate, a sample size of 567 patients is planned. Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first prospective pharmacogenomic-driven trial designed in elderly advanced NSCLC population. Disclosure: D. Cortinovis: Consultant for AZ, BI, Roche and Lilly; M. Papotti: Honoraria have been received from Eli Lilly; G. Scagliotti: Honoraria have been received from Eli Lilly, Roche, Pfizer and Astrazeneca. All other authors have declared no conflicts of interest.