The single-arm study evaluated Rova-T T in delta-like protein 3 (DLL3)-expressing SCLC patients with relapsed/refractory disease who had received two or more prior treatment regimens, including more than one platinum-based regimen.
While the best overall response rate was 29% as measured by an independent review committee, the median overall survival was 5.6 months.
The phase 2 TRINITY study showed several adverse effects of the drug in the participants with 38% reporting fatigue, 26% getting nausea, 17% reported vomiting and 36% showing photosensitivity reaction.
AbbVie said that it will continue to assess Rova-T in its ongoing MERU and TAHOE phase 3 studies in first- and second-line SCLC.
AbbVie research and development executive vice president and chief scientific officer Mike Severino said: "We continue to believe Rova-T has potential for patients with small cell lung cancer and other DLL3-expressing cancers.
"Although the results from the study were not what we hoped for, we look forward to receiving data from the ongoing Phase 3 studies in the first- and second-line settings and remain committed to developing Rova-T for the treatment of patients with small cell lung cancer."
Rova-T, which is an antibody-drug conjugate derived from cancer stem cells, targets the cancer-stem cell-associated DLL3 that is expressed in more than 80% of SCLC patient tumors.
The investigational lung cancer drug was bought by AbbVie as part of its $5.8bn acquisition of Stemcentrx, a California-based cancer drug startup, in 2016.
Image: AbbVie Corporate Headquarters. Photo: courtesy of AbbVie Inc.