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Is There Any Impact of New Drugs on the Outcome of Advanced NSCLC? An Overview of the Southern Italy Cooperative Oncology Group Trials

on behalf of the Southern Italy Cooperative Oncology Group (SICOG)

Correspondence: Giovanni Pacilio, M.D., Via Manzoni 61 (villa Caporali), 80123-Naples, Italy. Fax: 39081640631; e-mail: cpacilio{at}tin.it

Lung cancer represents the major cause of cancer-related death in Europe and North America, accounting for 28% of all cancer deaths. Seventy to 80% of all lung cancers are non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs), and approximately 75% of these patients present with locally advanced or disseminated disease.

Even though chemotherapy is now recommended in the majority of cases of unresectable NSCLC, it still fails to substantially modify the fate of these patients. In recent years, several active cytotoxic drugs (paclitaxel, docetaxel, vinorelbine, gemcitabine, and irinotecan) have been developed, showing an overall response rate (ORR) <20% in NSCLC. Phase II/III trials testing these new agents in combination with cisplatin have been carried out in recent years with inconsistent results.

Large randomized trials testing cisplatin-paclitaxel, carboplatin-paclitaxel, and cisplatin-gemcitabine regimens have been reported showing no substantial superiority of these combinations over standard treatments. The ORR remained well below 50%, and the median survival times were quite far from one year. These data could suggest that the addition of a single new agent to a platinum compound could be insufficient to substantially improve the prognosis of advanced NSCLC patients.

In view of these disappointing data, the Southern Italy Cooperative Oncology Group has tried to improve the fate of patients with advanced NSCLC by testing new triplet combinations, which combined cisplatin with two rather than one of the newest chemotherapy agents. To avoid an unacceptable increase in toxicity and/or a marked decrease in dose intensity, the standard schedules of administration of the three agents used in these studies were changed, and the schedule changes were evaluated in phase I trials aimed at determining the maximum tolerated dosages of the drugs. Subsequently, phase II and III trials were conducted.

The present paper summarizes the results of the clinical trials either completed or under way and aims to evaluate whether this stategy will result in a substantial prognostic improvement.

Key Words. NSCLC • Chemotherapy trials • Gemcitabine • Vinorelbine • Cisplatin • Survival