Positive findings from fully enrolled cohorts in non–small cell lung cancer and metastatic breast cancer from ASCO’s Targeted Agent and Profiling Utilization Registry (TAPUR™) study were presented in poster sessions at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting. In addition, the study is being expanded to include patients with active brain metastases and three new drug therapies. Boehringer Ingelheim has also joined the study and, later this year, will provide afatinib to participants who enroll in a tissue-agnostic cohort of patients with an NRG1 gene fusion. That same month, the TAPUR study also will add two new drugs from existing pharmaceutical collaborators: abemaciclib and talazoparib.
“Many of the patients participating in the TAPUR study have tried multiple treatment options that did not work, so to see antitumor activity in these cohorts is encouraging,” said ASCO Chief Medical Officer Richard L. Schilsky, MD, FACP, FSCT, FASCO. “Further research is needed to confirm the efficacy of the drugs for patients with these genomic alterations and cancers, but we’re encouraged by the results thus far. We’re pleased to be expanding the study to enroll participants with active brain metastases, who often have few clinical trial options, as well as adding new drug therapies to bolster our treatment options and thus, our knowledge base.”
Abstracts Presenting TAPUR Findings
Both TAPUR study abstracts presented at the Annual Meeting reported positive results in study cohorts that expanded in 2017 to include additional patients because of two or more positive responses (which includes stable disease):
- “Palbociclib in patients with non–small cell lung cancer with CDKN2A alterations: results from the TAPUR study,” by Eugene R. Ahn, MD, and colleagues, which found that monotherapy with palbociclib demonstrated evidence of antitumor activity in patients with non–small cell lung cancer with a CDKN2A gene loss or mutation whose cancer had been heavily treated.
- “Pembrolizumab in patients with metastatic breast cancer with high tumor mutational burden: results from the TAPUR study,” by Ajjai Shivaram Alva, MD, and colleagues, which found that pembrolizumab demonstrated antitumor activity in patients with metastatic breast cancer with high tumor mutational burden whose cancer had been heavily treated.
TAPUR study participants are enrolled in cohorts based on their tumor type (eg, an advanced solid tumor), the genomic alterations of their tumors, and the targeted drug(s) matched to those alterations in the TAPUR study protocol. Boehringer Ingelheim is joining the TAPUR study to further investigate afatinib for fusions in the NRG1 gene based on preliminary observations that suggest drug activity in tumors with these fusions.
Learn more at tapur.org. ■
© 2019. American Society of Clinical Oncology. All rights reserved.
