Dr. Ramalingam on the Activity of Osimertinib Combinations in NSCLC

Suresh S. Ramalingam, MD, deputy director, Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, discusses the activity of osimertinib (Tagrisso) in combination with other agents in EGFR-mutant non—small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Resistance mechanisms to osimertinib can manifest through the activation of MET and MEK, says Ramalingam. As such, investigators are pairing osimertinib with some of the specific inhibitors against MET and MEK.

At the 2019 AACR Annual Meeting, there were 2 presentations on this topic. Lecia V. Sequist, MD, MPH, of Massachusetts General Hospital presented data on the combination of osimertinib with a MET inhibitor. Ramalingam presented data with osimertinib combined with a MEK inhibitor. Although the patient sample size is relatively small, investigators are seeing response rates ranging from 25% to 45% with these combinations. Moreover, the median duration of response seems to be in the upper 7 to 8 months. Seeing as these combinations can help combat resistance to osimertinib, they need to be studied further, concludes Ramalingam.