Dr. Popat on the Investigation of Lurbinectedin in Second-line SCLC

Sanjay Popat, MBBS, FRCP, PhD, medical oncologist, the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, professor of Thoracic Oncology, the Institute of Cancer Research, discusses the investigation of lurbinectedin as a second-line treatment for patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC). 

A phase 2 basket trial (NCT02454972) evaluated the safety and efficacy of lurbinectedin in patients with solid tumors, including SCLC. Data from the SCLC cohort showed that lurbinectedin elicited an overall response rate (ORR) of 35.2% per investigator assessment, Popat says. Notably, patients with chemotherapy-resistant disease experienced an ORR of 22.2% with lurbinectedin, which was higher than the 5% that was expected in that setting, Popat adds. The median progression-free survival benefit observed with the agent was also meaningful, according to Popat.

Since this was a single-arm study, it is difficult to make comparisons with it— especially since there may have been an element of patient selection bias as is inevitable in trials of relapsed SCLC, Popat adds.Regardless, these data were the first signal that lurbinectedin may be a beneficial option in this patient population, Popat concludes.