Dr. Strosberg on Future of 177Lu-Dotatate Therapy in Neuroendocrine Tumors

Jonathan R. Strosberg, MD, associate professor, Moffitt Cancer Center, discusses the future of using 177Lu-dotatate (Lutathera) therapy to treat patients with neuroendocrine tumors.

In the phase III NETTER-1 trial, the efficacy of 177Lu-dotatate was compared with octreotide (Sandostatin) in patients with advanced progressive disease. The 177Lu-dotatate arm was shown to have a favorable safety profile with only 5% of patients experiencing dose toxicity.

Results of other studies with 177Lu-dotatate will indicate whether this drug can be used in a broader group of neuroendocrine tumors, such as pancreatic or bronchial. There is also interest in trials evaluating 177Lu-dotatate in combination with chemotherapy and immunotherapy.