ABSTRACT
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Recent advances involving targeted therapies are promising, but most patients do not have an "oncogene addicted" disease. A platinum doublet chemotherapy regimen has been the mainstay of therapy since 1997. The addition of antiangiogenic agents to traditional chemotherapy has improved survival in patients with non-small cell lung cancer. However, these agents are limited by serious adverse events such as thromboembolism, bowel perforation and hemorrhage and by the development of resistance. Nintedanib is a novel, orally available triple angiokinase inhibitor that targets three important pathways involved in the initiation and propagation of angiogenesis in tumors, the VEGF, FGF and PDGFR pathways. Phase I and II trials have identified the maximum tolerated dose in monotherapy and in combination with traditional chemotherapy. The toxicity profile is tolerable and reversible, dominated by transaminitis and gastrointestinal side effects. The phase III LUME-lung 1 study (NCT00805194) compared docetaxel, a standard treatment in the second line, with docetaxel in combination with nintedanib. Progression-free survival was 3.4 months in the combination group compared to 2.7 months in the docetaxel group, (HR 0.79, 95% CI 0.68-0.92, P = 0.0019). There was a significant improvement in overall survival in adenocarcinoma patients, 12.6 vs. 10.3 months (HR 0.83, 95% CI 0.7-0.99, P = 0.036). Based on the results of this study, nintedanib has been approved by the EMA in Europe, as a second-line treatment in patients with adenocarcinoma. It is a promising, well-tolerated therapy that is currently being investigated in multiple different tumor types.
