Introduction: The aim of the study was to investigate the efficacy and tolerability of panitumumab, a fully human antiepidermal growth factor receptor monoclonal antibody, in combination with pemetrexed/cisplatin in patients with stage IIIB to IV primary nonsquamous non-small-cell lung cancer and wild type V-Ki-ras2 Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog (KRAS). Results were compared with those obtained in a control group of patients who received a pemetrexed/cisplatin regimen only.
Patients and methods: This was a phase II, randomized, open-label study with 2 treatment arms. In total, 96 patients received panitumumab at a dose of 9 mg/kg in combination with pemetrexed 500 mg/m(2) and cisplatin 75 mg/m(2) (n = 49) or pemetrexed/cisplatin alone (n = 47). The primary outcome measure was progression-free survival at 6 months. Secondary end points of the study included overall survival, tumor response, quality of life, and safety outcomes. The CHAMP study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01088620.
Results: Progression-free survival at 6 months did not indicate a benefit of panitumumab as a supplement to the standard therapy of pemetrexed/cisplatin whereas the overall survival showed a clear difference between the treatment groups in favor of the standard therapy. Results might be affected by the higher rates of serious adverse events and higher death rates within the panitumumab arm.
Conclusions: Results from the present study indicate that combination of cisplatin/pemetrexed with panitumumab should not be recommended for patients with adenocarcinoma and KRAS wild type because of lack of efficacy, lack of improvement of quality of life, and because of the increase in toxicity rates compared with patients in the control arm, who received standard chemotherapy of pemetrexed/cisplatin.
Keywords: Epidermal growth factor receptor; KRAS; Non-small cell lung cancer; Panitumumab; Pemetrexed/cisplatin.
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