Corporate Magazine 2012 - Boehringer Ingelheim

esearch & developmentperspectives for medical innovationPATIENT IDENTIFICATIONIn collaboration with QIAGEN N.V., a companiondiagnostic (Thera-Screen® EGFR RGQ) was developed.It allows identification of those patients with anEGFR mutation positive tumour who are eligible fortargeted therapy with afatinib.AFATINIB – POTENTIAL PERSONALISED TREATMENTOPTION FOR LUNG CANCERAfatinib in NSCLCs has demonstrated unprecedentedefficacy as a first-line treatment for patients with EGFRmutations. Because of its specific benefit for those EGFRpositive, mutation status patients, it is a personalisedapproach.We believe that health systems will acknowledge a personalisedapproach using biomarkers to identify patientsbenefiting from therapy with afatinib.trexed and cisplatin, as first-line treatmentfor patients with stage IIIb orIV NSCLC harbouring an epidermalgrowth-factor-receptor(EGFR) mutation.disease-related symptoms, such as dyspnea(shortness of breath), cough andchest pain. Afatinib also significantlydelays the deterioration of these symptomscompared with chemotherapy.The LUX®-Lung 3 results, presentedin 2012, showed that lung cancer patientstaking afatinib as a first-linetreatment lived for almost one yearbefore their tumour started to growagain (progression-free survival – PFSof 11.1 months) versus just over half ayear (PFS of 6.9 months) for those onstandard chemotherapy (pemetrexed /cisplatin).Importantly, patients taking afatinibwith the most common EGFR mutations(del19 and L858R, accounting for90% of all EGFR mutations) lived withafatinib for well over a year withoutprogression (PFS of 13.6 months) versusjust over half a year (PFS of 6.9 months)for those in the comparator arm.In addition, a standard questionnaireassessing the quality of life of lung cancerpatients revealed that afatinib treatmenttranslated into an improved qualityof life.Submission of afatinibA marketing authorisation applicationfor afatinib as a treatment for EGFR(ErbB1) mutation positive NSCLC hasbeen submitted to the European MedicinesAgency (EMA) for Europe as wellas in the USA , Canada, Asia, Japan andother countries.The delay in disease progression wasalso associated with an improvement ofPioneering treatments for cancer49