These are interesting results,” said Martin Reck, MD, PhD, Head of the Department of Thoracic Oncology at the Lung Clinic Grosshansdorf in Germany, who discussed the study at the Presidential Session of the 2015 European Cancer Congress.

Responses to rovalpituzumab tesirine, he noted, “are superior to topotecan,” the only approved agent in the second-line setting (with none approved in the third-line setting). “So far, the median duration of response and overall survival seem to be quite encouraging. If we compare data to our conventional data for second-line chemotherapy, which is with topotecan, these data are quite attractive.”

Dr. Reck added: “But more clinical data are needed,” including information on the optimal setting for using this drug and data regarding its relative benefit compared with emerging immunotherapies.

“Are we seeing a new chapter in [small cell lung cancer]?” he asked. “Perhaps this will be the first targeted therapy in this disease.”   ■

Disclosure: Dr. Reck reported no potential conflicts of interest.