WCLC 2021 | Clinical trials of neoadjuvant targeted therapy in resectable NSCLC

Neoadjuvant targeted therapy remains an under explored area in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and improved options could better outcomes in this population and provide in vivo efficacy evaluations to guide adjuvant treatment. Jay Lee, MD, UCLA Health, Los Angeles, CA, discusses upcoming trials of neoadjuvant targeted therapy, including a Phase II umbrella trial of neoadjuvant tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy in patients with NSCLC harboring targetable genetic alterations. The trial will assess the safety and efficacy of alectinib for ALK rearrangements, entrectinib for ROS and NTRK rearrangements, and vemurafenib plus cobimetinib for BRAFV600 mutations, with major pathological response rate as its primary endpoint, defined as ≤10% viable tumor cells at surgery. Pathologic complete response, ctDNA clearance rate and survival will also be assessed, as well as exploration of biomarkers and their correlation with clinical outcomes. This interview took place during the IASLC World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) virtual meeting 2021.