Jonathan Thompson, MD, MS, on AEs and Limitations Reported in the Phase 2 BGBC008 Study

Combination treatment with bemcentinib (BGB324) and pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in patients with checkpoint inhibitor (CPI)–naïve and CPI–refractory composite AXL (cAXL)–positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was well tolerated and clinically active, according to updated results from the phase 2 BGBC008 clinical trial (NCT03185471) presented at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer 2020 World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) Singapore.

In this single-arm, 2-stage study (NCT03184571), patients were treated with bemcentinib at a dose of 200mg per day and pembrolizumab at a dose of 200 mg every 3 weeks. The study includes 3 patient cohorts; cohort A consists of patients whose disease failed on chemotherapy and who are immunotherapy-naïve, cohort B includes patients progressing on prior CPI therapy, and cohort C is made up of patients treated with platinum-doublet chemotherapy in combination with pembrolizumab.

In an interview with CancerNetwork®, Jonathan Thompson, MD, MS, assistant professor in the division of Hematology/Oncology at the Medical College of Wisconsin, highlighted the adverse events experienced by patients on the study as well as notable limitations which may have impacted the study outcomes.

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Overall, the combination of bemcentinib and pembrolizumab was well tolerated. The most notable side effects that we saw in the study were some liver function abnormalities in patients that were non–life threatening. But overall, [the combination was a] fairly well tolerated therapy.

Currently, the main limitation of the study is that it’s an early readout, especially in cohort B. We do have longer-term follow-up in cohort A and some of the survival data in that cohort has been presented at earlier meetings. But we do hope to be able to recruit well to the remainder of cohort B and then present [those] data in the future. We do also have a third cohort in the study that wasn’t reported at [WCLC], but that is looking at patients [with metastatic NSCLC who have previously received treatment with a combination of chemotherapy and immunotherapy]… recruitment is ongoing as well and we expect to have data at upcoming meetings.