Eisai Touts Lenvima Efficacy In Thyroid Cancer Study

Eisai has announced the final results from a real-world data (RWD) study of Lenvima as a frontline treatment for patients with radioactive iodine-refractory thyroid cancer (RAI-refractory DTC). 

The findings were presented in a poster at the 2022 Annual Meeting of the American Thyroid Association (ATA) held this October. 

Lenvima has been approved for use in the US since 2015 for the treatment of patients with metastatic DTC. It is also approved as a part of combination therapies targeting advanced renal cell carcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, and advanced endometrial carcinoma. 

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Results From The RWD Study 

Lenvatinib is a receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor that blocks VEGF receptors VEGFR1-3 as well as many other kinases involved in angiogenesis, tumor growth, and cancer progression. 

Kinases have many normal cellular functions, so drugs that block them are associated with side effects, including hypertension, cardiac dysfunction, arterial thromboembolic events, or liver toxicity. 

The RWB study included 308 patients, 44.8% of whom are diagnosed with advanced disease. 89.6% of patients showed metastases. Patients received lenvatinib therapy for a median duration of 17.5 months overall. 

72.4% of patients treated with Lenvima reported complete (26.9%) or partial (45.5%) response. The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 49 months. The median overall survival (OS) was not reached at the data cutoff point. The estimated OS was 78.4% at 24 months and 57% at 72 months. 

99 patients (32.1%) discontinued the therapy, with the most common reasons being disease progression (36.4%) and death (32.3%). 

Eisai has admitted that the RWD study may be subjected to a few limitations, such as provider and patient selection bias. Efforts were made to minimize the bias by recruiting physicians from all over the US, limiting the number of participating physicians per oncology practice, and allowing each physician to provide data for five randomly selected patients. 

“Our primary objective for generating robust scientific evidence using real-world data is to inform the healthcare community about the performance of therapies in actual clinical practice,” said Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Vice President, Head of Worldwide Real-World Evidence, Eisai.

“We plan to continue to generate quality real-world evidence across different cancers in order to support public health.”

Author

Joy Lin

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