Pfizer reports positive five-year results for Lorbrena in advanced lung cancer

Pfizer has reported promising long-term data from its late-stage study on the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) inhibitor, Lorbrena (lorlatinib), for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The phase 3 CROWN trial compared Lorbrena to Pfizer’s existing tyrosine kinase inhibitor, Xalkori (crizotinib), in patients who had not received prior treatment for ALK-positive NSCLC.

Presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting and published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the results showed significant benefits for patients treated with Lorbrena. At the five-year mark, 60% of these patients were alive without disease progression, compared to just 8% in the Xalkori group. Lorbrena treatment resulted in an 81% reduction in the rate of disease progression or death and a 94% decrease in the risk of developing intracranial progression compared to Xalkori.

The safety profiles of both drugs remained consistent with earlier findings over the five-year follow-up period, and no new safety signals emerged for Lorbrena. Roger Dansey, Pfizer’s chief development officer of oncology, remarked, “These results from the CROWN trial are unprecedented and support Lorbrena as a standard of care for the first-line treatment of people with ALK-positive advanced NSCLC.”

Lung cancer leads the world in cancer-related deaths, with NSCLC accounting for approximately 85% of these cases. ALK-positive tumors represent 3% to 5% of NSCLC cases, which equates to around 72,000 new diagnoses worldwide each year. Lorlatinib, approved for certain adults with ALK-positive NSCLC, is designed to target tumor mutations that cause resistance to other ALK inhibitors and to cross the blood-brain barrier.

Benjamin Solomon, the principal investigator of CROWN from Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, commented on the findings: “This updated analysis shows that Lorbrena helped patients live longer without disease progression, with the majority of patients experiencing sustained benefit for over five years, including nearly all patients having protection from progression of disease in the brain. These improvements in outcomes for patients with ALK-positive NSCLC represent a remarkable advancement in lung cancer.”

Additionally, Pfizer presented overall survival data from a phase 3 study at ASCO, evaluating Adcetris (brentuximab vedotin) in combination with lenalidomide and rituximab. This combination is being studied as a treatment for patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.