Therapies after first-line afatinib in patients with m NSCLC in Japan: retrospective analysis of LUX-Lung 3.

Acquired resistance to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors is inevitable in non-small-cell lung cancer. To inform subsequent treatment decisions, we retrospectively assessed therapies following afatinib in Japanese patients from LUX-Lung 3. LUX-Lung 3 was a randomized, open-label, Phase III study of afatinib versus cisplatin/pemetrexed in treatment-naive patients with mutation-positive (m) advanced lung adenocarcinoma. Among 47 Japanese patients who discontinued first-line afatinib, 91/81/62% received ≥one/two/three subsequent therapies. The most common second-line therapies were platinum-based chemotherapy (38%) and a first-generation EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (17%). Median overall survival (afatinib vs cisplatin/pemetrexed) was 47.8 versus 35.0 months (not significant). First-line afatinib does not appear to diminish suitability for subsequent therapies in m non-small-cell lung cancer.