Dr. Blakely on Utilizing Osimertinib in Resectable EGFR-Mutant NSCLC

Collin Blakely MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), medical oncologist, UCSF Health, discusses the rationale for utilizing osimertinib (Tagrisso) in resectable EGFR-mutant non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Targeting EGFR mutations in NSCLC is an effective way to induce tumor shrinkage, Blakely says. Moreover, adjuvant osimertinib has been shown to extend disease-free survival in patients with EGFR-mutated disease. However, it is not known whether it is possible to utilize osimertinib in the neoadjuvant setting and obtain the same degree of tumor reduction and pathological response as in the adjuvant setting, Blakely explains.

Pathological response has been shown to correlate with overall survival; this concept served as the basis to evaluate neoadjuvant osimertinib in patients with early-stage NSCLC, Blakely concludes.