Boehringer Ingelheim To Initiate Phase III Tovok Study

Boehringer Ingelheim is going to initiate phase III clinical study of BIBW 2992 (Tovok), as first-line treatment in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations.

The LUX-Lung 3 trial will compare the efficacy and safety of the single-agent BIBW 2992 to that of standard chemotherapy, as a potential first-line treatment for NSCLC patients with EGFR mutations.

The preliminary data from another study showed that BIBW 2992 improved disease symptoms and reduced size of tumors in three heavily pre-treated patients with HER2neu mutations.

Results from this trial warrant further investigation of BIBW 2992 as a potential new treatment option for NSCLC patients, who have HER2neu mutations.

James Yang, professor at the Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine and the Graduate Institute of Clinical Pharmacy at the College of Medicine at the National Taiwan University (NTU), said: “The Boehringer Ingelheim LUX-Lung 3 trial studying BIBW 2992 in patients with EGFR mutations will be important as we continue to work towards providing personalized medicine for patients with lung cancer. BIBW 2992 is an irreversible tyrosine kinase inhibitor whose clinical benefit we are hoping to confirm in the first-line setting for patients with EGFR mutations”.