Dr. Liu on Emerging Data With Novel ADCs in NSCLC

Stephen Liu, MD, an associate professor of medicine, director of thoracic oncology, and director of developmental therapeutics at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses emerging research on antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs) in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that were presented during the 2020 World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC).

Several important areas of research were covered during the virtual meeting, according to Liu, with findings on investigational ADCs being of particular interest, Liu says. Last year, data read out with fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (Enhertu), which was shown to elicit a response rate of 61.9% in patients with HER2-positive NSCLC, according to the results of the DESTINY-Lung01 trial. At this year's meeting, additional results evaluating the agent in patients with HER2 overexpression were shared, and the agent was found to demonstrate antitumor activity irrespective of expression levels.

Additionally, data regarding the Trop-2–targeted ADC datopotamab deruxtecan (DS-1062) were also revealed. Preliminary results showed that the agent elicited an overall response rate of 23% when given at a dose of 4 mg/kg, 21% at 6 mg/kg, and 25% at 8 mg/kg per blinded independent central review. As Trop-2 is frequently overexpressed in patients with NSCLC, this is a potentially efficacious option that may impact other indications in the space, Liu concludes.