Boehringer Ingelheim's afatinib improves progression free survival in lung cancer patients

15 October 2010

Independent German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim announced results from two clinical trials of its investigational cancer compound afatinib (BIBW 2992) at the 35th European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress in Milan, Italy.

Results from the “LUX-Lung 1” trial suggest that afatinib is active in late-stage patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), while in the “LUX-Lung 2” Phase II trial afatinib demonstrated encouraging activity in advanced NSCLC patients that have a mutated epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR).

Afatinib, which is taken as an oral tablet, is a next generation inhibitor of the EGFR and human epidermal receptor 2 (HER2) tyrosine kinase (TK). Unlike first generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), afatinib irreversibly binds to EFGR/HER2. The compound is in development in several solid tumor types.

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