ASCO: Novartis 177Lu-PSMA-617 significantly boosts OS in mCR prostate cancer

Swiss pharms giant Novartis (NOVN: VX) has announced that results of the Phase III VISION study evaluating 177Lu-PSMA-617, a targeted radioligand therapy, plus best standard of care (SOC) demonstrated significant improvement in overall survival (OS) compared to SOC alone, in patients with progressive PSMA-positive metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).

The difference in OS between study arms was statistically significant (one-sided p<0.001), with an estimated 38% reduction in risk of death in the 177Lu-PSMA-617 arm (n=551) compared to the best standard of care only arm (n=280) (hazard ratio: 0.62 with 95% confidence interval (CI): (0.52, 0.74))1. These results will be presented during the 2021 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting plenary session on June 6.

Patients receiving 177Lu-PSMA-617 also demonstrated a statistically significant (one-sided p<0.001) 60% risk reduction for radiographic progression-free survival or death (rPFS), compared to the best standard of care only arm (hazard ratio: 0.40 with 99.2% CI: (0.29 0.57))1. There was a higher rate of drug-related treatment emergent adverse events reported in the 177Lu-PSMA-617 treatment arm (85.3%) compared to standard of care alone (28.8%)1.