Alectinib in Resected ALK-Positive Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer.

BACKGROUND: Platinum-based chemotherapy is the recommended adjuvant treatment for patients with resectable, ALK-positive non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Data on the efficacy and safety of adjuvant alectinib as compared with chemotherapy in patients with resected ALK-positive NSCLC are lacking. METHODS: We conducted a global, phase 3, open-label, randomized trial in which patients with completely resected, ALK-positive NSCLC of stage IB (tumors ≥4 cm), II, or IIIA (as classified according to the seventh edition of the Cancer Staging Manual of the American Joint Committee on Cancer and Union for International Cancer Control) were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive oral alectinib (600 mg twice daily) for 24 months or intravenous platinum-based chemotherapy in four 21-day cycles. The primary end point was disease-free survival, tested hierarchically among patients with stage II or IIIA disease and then in the intention-to-treat population. Other end points included central nervous system (CNS) disease-free survival, overall survival, and safety. RESULTS: In total, 257 patients were randomly assigned to receive alectinib (130 patients) or chemotherapy (127 patients). The percentage of patients alive and disease-free at 2 years was 93.8% in the alectinib group and 63.0% in the chemotherapy group among patients with stage II or IIIA disease (hazard ratio for disease recurrence or death, 0.24; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.13 to 0.45; P<0.001) and 93.6% and 63.7%, respectively, in the intention-to-treat population (hazard ratio, 0.24; 95% CI, 0.13 to 0.43; P<0.001). Alectinib was associated with a clinically meaningful benefit with respect to CNS disease-free survival as compared with chemotherapy (hazard ratio for CNS disease recurrence or death, 0.22; 95% CI, 0.08 to 0.58). Data for overall survival were immature. No unexpected safety findings were observed. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with resected ALK-positive NSCLC of stage IB, II, or IIIA, adjuvant alectinib significantly improved disease-free survival as compared with platinum-based chemotherapy. (Funded by F. Hoffmann-La Roche; ALINA ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT03456076.).

Exposure-Response Relationships for Pralsetinib in Patients with RET-Altered Thyroid Cancer or RET Fusion-Positive Nonsmall Cell Lung Cancer.

Pralsetinib is a highly potent oral kinase inhibitor of oncogenic RET (rearranged during transfection) fusions and mutations. Pralsetinib received approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of patients with metastatic RET fusion-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and received accelerated approval for the treatment of patients with RET fusion-positive thyroid cancer. Exposure-response (ER) analyses of efficacy were performed separately in patients with thyroid cancer and in patients with NSCLC, but data for all patients were pooled for the safety analysis. ER models were developed with time-varying exposure; the effect of covariates was also examined. For patients with NSCLC, a higher starting dose was associated with improved progression-free survival (PFS), but this improvement did not correlate with a higher exposure overall. Significant covariates included sex and baseline Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) score. For patients with thyroid cancer, a higher exposure was associated with improved PFS. Significant covariates included prior systemic cancer therapy and ECOG score. For safety, higher exposure was associated with a greater risk of grade ≥3 anemia, pneumonia, and lymphopenia. Patients with an ECOG score of ≥1 had an increased risk of grade ≥3 pneumonia. Non-White patients had a lower risk of grade ≥3 lymphopenia. ER analysis revealed that higher pralsetinib exposure was associated with improved PFS in thyroid cancer, but not in NSCLC. However, a higher starting dose (ie, 400 vs ≤300 mg daily) was correlated with better PFS for all indications. Higher exposure was also associated with an increased risk of grade ≥3 adverse events (AEs); however, the overall incidence of these events was acceptably low (≤20%). This analysis supports the use of a 400 mg starting dose of pralsetinib, allowing for dose reduction in the event of AEs.

High-dose alectinib for RET fusion-positive non-small cell lung cancer in the Blood First Assay Screening Trial.

Introduction: This paper presents results from Cohort B (rearranged during transfection [RET], fusion-positive) of the Blood First Assay Screening Trial in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) screened for genetic alterations using blood-based next-generation sequencing. Material and methods: Adults with advanced RET fusion-positive NSCLC received alectinib 900 mg twice daily (BID) in Phase I. Enrolment closed prematurely with Phase II uninitiated. Results: Among eight treated patients, confirmed best overall responses in evaluable patients were stable disease (4/5) and progressive disease (1/5). One dose-limiting toxicity (death, unknown cause) was considered by the investigator to be related to treatment and underlying disease. Serious adverse events (SAEs) occurred in five patients, and SAEs that may be related to treatment occurred in two patients. Conclusions: Alectinib showed limited activity in advanced RET fusion-positive NSCLC, and further investigation was not conducted due to the development of selective RET inhibitors pralsetinib and selpercatinib. No new safety signals were observed, and the safety profile of alectinib was in line with previous reports at the 600 mg BID dose.

Biomass partitioning and nutrient fluxes in Silphium perfoliatum and silage maize cropping systems.

Abstract: Cup plant cultivation as feedstock for anaerobic digestion has become an emerging topic in European Agriculture. Although there is a gap in methane yields between cup plant and the benchmark crop silage maize, cup plant as a perennial crop provides several ecological advantages. Amongst others, studies have proven its potential for carbon sequestration. With the present study, we addressed the gap in knowledge about biomass partitioning above- and belowground as well as recycling of organic matter and nutrients for cup plant and compared the results to silage maize. Therefore, a 2 year field experiment was conducted under practical conditions on rather shallow soil conditions in a low mountain landscape in Western Germany. Relevant plant fractions like litterfall, yield biomass and stubbles were collected continuously and analyzed for their nutrient contents. Results show that the cup plant is characterized by more than 2000 kg ha- 1 a- 1 of pre-harvest losses with a high palatability. In sum, only 77% of the grown cup plant biomass can be harvested in contrast to 96% of silage maize. Thus, an intense, element-specific nutrient recycling takes place in cup plant whereas this is negligible in silage maize. Furthermore, clearly different, element-specific nutrient exports with yield were highlighted. In cup plant, exports were distinctly lower for nitrogen but several times higher for calcium compared to silage maize. Cup plant also showed 36% more roots with higher root masses particularly in the subsoil. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10705-022-10242-0.

Effect of alectinib on cardiac electrophysiology: results from intensive electrocardiogram monitoring from the pivotal phase II NP28761 and NP28673 studies.

PURPOSE: Alectinib, a central nervous system (CNS)-active ALK inhibitor, has demonstrated efficacy and safety in ALK+ non-small-cell lung cancer that has progressed following crizotinib treatment. Other ALK inhibitors have shown concentration-dependent QTc prolongation and treatment-related bradycardia. Therefore, this analysis evaluated alectinib safety in terms of electrophysiologic parameters. METHODS: Intensive triplicate centrally read electrocardiogram (ECG) and matched pharmacokinetic data were collected across two alectinib single-arm trials. Analysis of QTcF included central tendency analysis [mean changes from baseline with one-sided upper 95% confidence intervals (CIs)], categorical analyses, and relationship between change in QTcF and alectinib plasma concentrations. Alectinib effects on other ECG parameters (heart rate, PR interval and QRS duration) were also evaluated. RESULTS: Alectinib did not cause a clinically relevant change in QTcF. The maximum mean QTcF change from baseline was 5.3 ms observed pre-dose at week 2. The upper one-sided 95% CI was <10 ms at all time points. There was no relevant relationship between change in QTcF and alectinib plasma concentrations. Alectinib treatment resulted in a generally asymptomatic exposure-dependent decrease in mean heart rate of ~11 to 13 beats per minute at week 2. No clinically relevant effects were seen on other ECG parameters. Approximately 5% of patients reported cardiac adverse events of bradycardia or sinus bradycardia; however, these were all grade 1-2. CONCLUSIONS: Alectinib does not prolong the QTc interval or cause changes in cardiac function to a clinically relevant extent, with the exception of a decrease in heart rate which was generally asymptomatic.

Metabolism, excretion, and pharmacokinetics of [14c]-radiolabeled aleglitazar: a phase I, nonrandomized, open-label, single-center, single-dose study in healthy male volunteers.

BACKGROUND: Aleglitazar is a dual peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-α/γ agonist with a balanced activity (similar half-maximal effective concentrations) toward PPAR-α and -γ that is in clinical development for the treatment of patients who have experienced an acute coronary syndrome and have type 2 diabetes mellitus. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to characterize the metabolic profile and the routes and rates of elimination of aleglitazar and its major metabolites in humans. METHODS: In this Phase I, nonrandomized, open-label, single-center, single-dose study, 6 healthy male subjects each received a single oral dose of 300 µg [(14)C]-labeled aleglitazar. Total urine and feces were collected for up to 15 days. Venous blood samples were collected to determine the plasma concentrations of aleglitazar and its metabolites and for radioactivity counting. RESULTS: The median age (range) and mean (SD) body mass index of subjects were 48 (41-60) years and 24.8 (3.0) kg/m(2), respectively. Recovery of total radioactivity, as a percentage of the dose administered, was high (93 [3]%). Aleglitazar was predominantly eliminated in feces (mean, 66% [range, 55%-74%]), with only 28% (range, 22%-36%) of the radioactivity recovered in urine. Only a mean (SD) of 1.8 (0.8)% of aleglitazar was eliminated unchanged as parent compound in feces and only 0.3 (0.4)% was eliminated in urine. Almost all excreted drug-related material could be attributed to its 2 main metabolites, M1 (21%) and M6 (38%). Treatment with aleglitazar was well tolerated, and no serious adverse events were reported. CONCLUSIONS: In healthy volunteers, aleglitazar was excreted mainly in the form of inactive metabolites, mostly M1 and M6, with only a small proportion eliminated unchanged.

No evidence of QT prolongation with supratherapeutic doses of aleglitazar.

Aleglitazar is a dual peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-α/γ agonist in clinical development, designed to offer a balanced activation of PPAR-α and PPAR-γ. A phase 2 trial has demonstrated improvements in dyslipidemia and glycemic control and reduction of cardiovascular risk markers in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus treated with aleglitazar. This study evaluated whether supratherapeutic doses of aleglitazar affect cardiac repolarization, as detected by changes in the QT interval.Healthy subjects were randomized to receive single oral doses of placebo, 300 µg aleglitazar, 3000 µg aleglitazar, and 400 mg moxifloxacin, in 1 of 4 sequences. Triplicate 12-lead electrocardiogram measurements were recorded predose and regularly (0.75-72 hours) after each treatment. The primary outcome was measurement of QT interval using a study-specific correction factor for heart rate.Administration of aleglitazar (300 µg and 3000 µg) did not cause any significant QT prolongation and after aleglitazar treatment any mean increases from placebo were <5 msec, at all time points. There was a trend for aleglitazar to cause a small dose-dependent decrease in QT interval using a study-specific correction factor for heart rate. The incidence of adverse events was similar with aleglitazar (18%-20%) and placebo (26%).Single supratherapeutic doses of aleglitazar are not associated with prolongation of the QT interval corrected for heart rate.