Servier and its partner Taiho Pharmaceutical have announced that the European Commission (EC) has approved the use of Lonsurf® (trifluridine/tipiracil) as monotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with metastatic gastric cancer including adenocarcinoma of the gastroesophageal junction, who have been previously treated with at least two prior systemic treatment regimens for advanced disease.
“The approval of trifluridine/tipiracil is a landmark decision for patients across the European Union (EU). The data from the global TAGS trial supports trifluridine/tipiracil as an efficacious and tolerable therapy for patients with refractory metastatic gastric cancer. Before today there has been no approved standard of care for this population of poor-risk patients who had already progressed on previous therapies, meaning this is a step forward for patients who previously had limited treatment options,” said Professor Josep Tabernero, Head of the Medical Oncology Department, Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, Barcelona and Director of the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO), and European lead of the pivotal Phase III trial TAGS.
The marketing authorisation was supported by data from the global Phase III trial TAGS (TAS-102 Gastric Study) which was a randomised, double-blind study evaluating Lonsurf plus best supportive care (BSC) versus placebo plus BSC in patients with metastatic gastric cancer refractory to standard treatments. Lonsurf demonstrated statistically significant improvement in overall survival (OS) (HR=0.69 [95% CI 0.56-0.85], p=0.00029) compared to placebo plus BSC. The median OS in patients treated with Lonsurf and BSC was 5.7 months compared to 3.6 months in patients treated with placebo and BSC, and there was a 31% risk reduction of death. The overall safety profile was consistent with the known safety profile of Lonsurf in metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC), with mainly haematological adverse events reported.
“We are very pleased with today’s approval of Lonsurf, metastatic gastric cancer is difficult to treat and it’s important that clinicians are able to access a range of treatment options. We will now work with health technology assessment bodies across Europe to enable access for eligible patients to Lonsurf as quickly as possible,” said Patrick Therasse, MD, PhD, Head of Servier Research and Development Oncology.
