Trastuzumab deruxtecan in HER2-mutant non-small-cell lung cancer: a plain language summary of the DESTINY-Lung01 study

Abstract

What is this summary about?: This is a summary of the publication about the DESTINY-Lung01 study, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in September 2021. The DESTINY-Lung01 study includes 181 adults with metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that could not be treated with surgery and who have had previous standard anticancer treatment. The publication includes information and results about 91 of the 181 study participants. These 91 participants had HER2-mutant NSCLC. Researchers wanted to learn if the drug trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) could help treat participants with HER2-mutant NSCLC. At the time of this publication, this study is ongoing. What are the key takeaways?: Results from the study showed that 55% of participants responded to treatment with T-DXd. The median length of time participants continued to respond to T-DXd was 9.3 months. After receiving T-DXd, 92% of participants had disease control. After receiving T-DXd, half of the participants lived for at least 17.8 months. After receiving T-DXd, half of the participants lived for 8.2 months before their cancer got worse. During the study, 97% of participants had drug-related adverse events, with nausea being the most common. There were 20% of participants with serious drug-related adverse events. What were the main conclusions reported by the researchers?: Based on these results, T-DXd could be a treatment option for people with HER2-mutant NSCLC that has been previously treated. Clinical Trial Registration:NCT03505710 (DESTINY-Lung01) (ClinicalTrials.gov).