Lung cancer patients with Del19 mutation benefit most from Giotrif, says IQWiG

After a first early benefit assessment (The Pharma Letter February 19, 2014), the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) has now re-examined whether afatinib offers an added benefit over the appropriate comparator therapy.

German family-owned drug major Boehringer Ingelheim’s Giotrif (afatinib) has been approved since September 2013 for the treatment of adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with activating EGF receptor mutations who have not been treated with an EGF receptor tyrosine-kinase inhibitor (EGFR TKI).

The new benefit assessment was conducted because a limitation of the corresponding decision by the Federal Joint Commission (G-BA) expired in May 2015.