Dr. Villaruz on EGFR-Targeted Therapies in NSCLC

Liza C. Villaruz, MD, assistant professor of medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, University of Pittsburgh, discusses EGFR-targeted therapies in non—small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Villaruz says that osimertinib (Tagrisso) is still the frontline tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) of choice in the treatment of EGFR-mutant NSCLC, both with regard to systemic disease control and central nervous system (CNS) involvement control. Osimertinib is well tolerated and a has a very good therapeutic index. It will be important for researchers to follow the data with lazertinib, another third-generation TKI that could widen the options in this space, notes Villaruz. In September 2018, the FDA approved dacomitinib (Vizimpro) for the frontline treatment of patients with EGFR exon 19 deletion or exon 21 L858R substitution mutations.

Ongoing research is also looking at novel combinations of TKIs with VEGF inhibitors like ramucirumab (Cyramza) and bevacizumab (Avastin). Villaruz concludes that these combinations could be particularly effective for patients with CNS metastases.