FLAURA2 Shows Tagrisso Plus Chemo Boosts Survival in EGFR+ Lung Cancer

Dr. Eric Singhi sat down with CURE to break down the latest findings from the phase 3 FLAURA2 study, presented at the World Conference on Lung Cancer.

He explained how adding chemotherapy to Tagrisso (osimertinib) improved overall survival for patients with EGFR-positive lung cancer by nearly 10 months compared with Tagrisso alone.

Singhi, an assistant professor in both the Department of General Oncology and Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston, also addressed how long patients typically stay on chemotherapy in this setting and highlighted the importance of shared decision-making when considering treatment options.

Transcript

Dr. Singhi, during the Presidential Symposium we heard important updates on EGFR-positive lung cancer, particularly the FLAURA2 study. Can you walk us through the key findings and what they mean for patients?

Hello from Barcelona! I'm excited to be here and to really understand the data that we can bring home for our patients, which is potentially practice-changing. On Sunday's Presidential Symposium here at the World Conference on Lung Cancer, we heard about updates for our patients with EGFR-positive disease. One of the studies we've been waiting for an update on is the FLAURA2 study.

This is a phase 3 study, so it had a lot of patients who were enrolled. Patients were either randomized to the arm that had Tagrisso plus chemotherapy or Tagrisso alone. We were waiting to see not only if one regimen helps control the disease longer or helps shrink the disease better, but also if the regimen truly helps patients live longer.

What we found was that, yes, if you combine Tagrisso plus chemotherapy, it does improve what we call overall survival; in other words, how long patients are living. On average, we saw about a 10-month improvement in overall survival if patients received chemotherapy with their Tagrisso. This is a really important thing to consider and to have an informed, shared decision-making conversation with your care team if you're newly diagnosed with EGFR-positive lung cancer and are thinking through your treatment options.

Another really good question that was answered, and probably a very common question that many oncologists get in their clinic, is, “How long do I have to be on the chemotherapy for? Can I just be on the Tagrisso pill at some point?” On average, in the study, we saw that patients were on the chemotherapy portion for about 8.3 months. This gives you a little perspective on how long patients are able to tolerate chemotherapy, and most of them, unfortunately, have to discontinue the chemotherapy because of side effects. That was just a recap of the FLAURA2 study.

Again, there were a lot of really exciting studies here. Continue to follow along and take care.

Transcript has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

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