Surufatinib plus toripalimab in patients with advanced solid tumors: a single-arm, open-label, phase 1 trial

Efficacy and safety of surufatinib plus toripalimab, a chemotherapy-free regimen, in patients with advanced gastric/gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, or biliary tract cancer

BACKGROUND

The programmed death 1 inhibitor toripalimab plus the angio-immuno kinase inhibitor surufatinib showed a tolerable safety profile and preliminary efficacy in patients with advanced solid tumors in a phase I study.

METHODS

This open-label, multi-cohort study in China enrolled patients with advanced solid tumors who had failed or were intolerable to standard treatment into tumor-specific cohorts. Patients received surufatinib (250 mg orally, once daily) plus toripalimab (240 mg intravenously, once every three weeks). Results for three cohorts (gastric/gastroesophageal junction [GC/GEJ] adenocarcinoma, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma [ESCC], and biliary tract carcinoma [BTC]) are reported here. The primary endpoint was investigator-assessed objective response rate (ORR) per Response Evaluation criteria in Solid Tumors version 1.1.

RESULTS

Between December 17, 2019, and January 29, 2021, 60 patients were enrolled (GC/GEJ, n = 20; ESCC, n = 20; BTC, n = 20). At data cutoff (February 28, 2023), ORRs were 31.6%, 30.0%, and 11.1%, respectively. Median progression-free survival was 4.1, 2.7, and 2.9 months, respectively. Median overall survival was 13.7, 10.4, and 7.0 months, respectively. Overall, grade ≥  3 treatment-related adverse events occurred in 28 (46.7%) patients.

CONCLUSIONS

Surufatinib plus toripalimab showed promising antitumor activity and a tolerable safety profile in immunotherapy-naïve patients with GC/GEJ adenocarcinoma, ESCC, or BTC. These findings warrant further study in larger randomized trials comparing surufatinib plus toripalimab with standard therapies in these tumors.

CLINICALTRIALS

gov NCT04169672.

Assessing the effectiveness and safety of surufatinib versus everolimus or sunitinib in advanced neuroendocrine neoplasms: insights from a real-world, retrospective cohort study using propensity score and inverse probability treatment weighting analysis

Background

While surufatinib, sunitinib, and everolimus have shown efficacy for advanced neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) in randomized controlled trials (RCTs), direct comparisons in a real-world setting remain unexplored. This gap highlights the clinical need to understand their comparative effectiveness and safety within the diverse Chinese population. Addressing this, our study provides insights into the real-world performance of these therapies, aiming to inform treatment selection and improve patient outcomes.

Methods

A retrospective, observational study was conducted at Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, including patients with advanced NENs treated with surufatinib, sunitinib, or everolimus between July 2020 and April 2023. Eligibility criteria focused on histologically confirmed, locally advanced, unresectable, or metastatic NENs, with patients having received at least one month of targeted therapy. We employed inverse probability weighting (IPW) with the propensity score (PS) matching to adjust for the bias of baseline characteristics. The assessment of covariates included age, sex, performance status, primary tumor site, functional status, genetic mutations, tumor differentiation, Ki67 index, tumor grade, metastasis site, and previous therapies. The primary outcome was progression-free survival (PFS), and secondary outcomes included objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), and adverse events (AEs).

Results

The study enrolled 123, 56, and 68 locally advanced or metastatic NEN patients treated with surufatinib, sunitinib, and everolimus, respectively. Before adjusting for confounding factors, surufatinib was used less frequently as a first-line treatment compared to sunitinib and everolimus in pancreatic NENs (pNENs) (11.1% vs. 22.1%, P=0.057). Significant differences were noted in prior treatments and tumor characteristics between surufatinib and everolimus groups in extrapancreatic NENs (epNENs) (P<0.05). Post-IPW, these disparities were resolved (P>0.05). Surufatinib demonstrated superior median PFS (mPFS) in both pancreatic [8.30 vs. 6.33 months, hazard ratio (HR) 0.592, P<0.001] and epNENs (8.73 vs. 3.70 months, HR 0.608, P<0.001) compared to everolimus or sunitinib. Notably, male gender (HR 1.75, P=0.001), functional status (HR 2.09, P=0.01), Ki67 index >20% (HR 12.7, P=0.004), previous somatostatin analogue (SSA) treatment (HR 1.73, P=0.001), germline mutation (HR 5.62, P<0.001), poor differentiation (HR 7.45, P<0.001), liver metastasis (HR 1.72, P=0.001) and multiple treatment lines (HR 1.62 for 2nd line, P=0.04; HR 1.88 for ≥3rd line, P=0.01) were identified as negative prognostic factors for PFS. Conversely, dose adjustment (HR 0.63, P=0.009) and treatment with surufatinib (HR 0.58 for pNEN, P<0.001; HR 0.62 for epNEN, P=0.002) were correlated with longer PFS.

Conclusions

In a real-world Chinese cohort, surufatinib significantly outperformed sunitinib and everolimus in prolonging PFS among advanced NEN patients, with identifiable clinical features impacting survival, and conclusions regarding superiority should be interpreted with caution due to the retrospective design. Our findings underscore the need for prospective studies to further validate these results and explore additional predictive biomarkers for personalized treatment strategies.

New clinical trial design in precision medicine: discovery, development and direction

In the era of precision medicine, it has been increasingly recognized that individuals with a certain disease are complex and different from each other. Due to the underestimation of the significant heterogeneity across participants in traditional "one-size-fits-all" trials, patient-centered trials that could provide optimal therapy customization to individuals with specific biomarkers were developed including the basket, umbrella, and platform trial designs under the master protocol framework. In recent years, the successive FDA approval of indications based on biomarker-guided master protocol designs has demonstrated that these new clinical trials are ushering in tremendous opportunities. Despite the rapid increase in the number of basket, umbrella, and platform trials, the current clinical and research understanding of these new trial designs, as compared with traditional trial designs, remains limited. The majority of the research focuses on methodologies, and there is a lack of in-depth insight concerning the underlying biological logic of these new clinical trial designs. Therefore, we provide this comprehensive review of the discovery and development of basket, umbrella, and platform trials and their underlying logic from the perspective of precision medicine. Meanwhile, we discuss future directions on the potential development of these new clinical design in view of the "Precision Pro", "Dynamic Precision", and "Intelligent Precision". This review would assist trial-related researchers to enhance the innovation and feasibility of clinical trial designs by expounding the underlying logic, which be essential to accelerate the progression of precision medicine.

Surufatinib plus toripalimab in patients with advanced neuroendocrine tumours and neuroendocrine carcinomas: An open-label, single-arm, multi-cohort phase II trial

BACKGROUND

The programmed death 1 inhibitor toripalimab plus the angio-immuno kinase inhibitor surufatinib revealed a tolerable safety profile and preliminary efficacy in patients with advanced solid tumours in a phase I study.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

This was an open-label, single-arm, multi-cohort phase II study in China. Patients with advanced neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) or neuroendocrine carcinomas (NECs) or mixed neuroendocrine non-neuroendocrine neoplasms (MiNENs) who had failed or were intolerable of standard treatment were given surufatinib (250 mg orally, once daily) plus toripalimab (240 mg intravenously, once every 3 weeks). Primary end-point was investigator-assessed objective response rate (ORR) per Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors version 1.1. Secondary end-points included duration of response (DoR), disease control rate, progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and safety.

RESULTS

Forty patients were enrolled into two cohorts by tumour types (NET, n = 19; NEC-MiNEN, n = 21). ORRs (95% CIs) were 21.1% (6.1-45.6) and 23.8% (8.2-47.2) in the NET and NEC-MiNEN cohorts, respectively. Median DoR was 7.1 months (6.9-not evaluable [NE]) and 4.1 months (3.0-NE), respectively. Median PFS was 9.6 months (4.1-NE) and 4.1 months (1.5-5.5); median OS was 27.3 (15.3-NE) and 10.9 months (9.1-14.6), respectively. Overall, grade ≥ 3 treatment-related adverse events occurred in 18 (45.0%) patients.

CONCLUSIONS

Surufatinib plus toripalimab showed antitumour activity and a tolerable safety profile in patients with previously treated NETs/NECs/MiNENs. Further study of this combination regimen is ongoing for advanced NECs, for which current therapeutic options remain limited.

CLINICALTRIALS

gov: NCT04169672.

The latest perspectives of small molecules FMS kinase inhibitors

FMS kinase is a type III tyrosine kinase receptor that plays a central role in the pathophysiology and management of several diseases, including a range of cancer types, inflammatory disorders, neurodegenerative disorders, and bone disorders among others. In this review, the pathophysiological pathways of FMS kinase in different diseases and the recent developments of its monoclonal antibodies and inhibitors during the last five years are discussed. The biological and biochemical features of these inhibitors, including binding interactions, structure-activity relationships (SAR), selectivity, and potencies are discussed. The focus of this article is on the compounds that are promising leads and undergoing advanced clinical investigations, as well as on those that received FDA approval. In this article, we attempt to classify the reviewed FMS inhibitors according to their core chemical structure including pyridine, pyrrolopyridine, pyrazolopyridine, quinoline, and pyrimidine derivatives.

The Efficacy and Safety of Surufatinib Combined with Anti PD-1 Antibody Toripalimab in Neoadjuvant Treatment of Locally Advanced Differentiated Thyroid Cancer: A Phase II Study

BACKGROUND

Surgery is the primary treatment for locally advanced differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC). However, some locally advanced patients are not candidates for R0/1 resection. There is limited evidence of neoadjuvant treatment in locally advanced DTC. Surufatinib targets multiple kinases, which is efficient, tolerable, and safe in patients with radioiodine-refractory DTC. In addition, surufatinib plus toripalimab (an anti-PD-1 antibody) showed encouraging antitumor activity in advanced solid tumors. This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of surufatinib plus toripalimab in locally advanced DTC in the neoadjuvant setting.

METHODS

In this single-arm, phase II study, patients with pathologically confirmed unresectable or borderline resectable DTC were eligible and received a combination of 250 mg of surufatinib (orally daily) with 240 mg of toripalimab (intravenous, every 3 weeks). Treatment continued until satisfied for curative surgery, disease progression, withdrawal of consent, unacceptable toxicity, or investigator decision. Primary endpoint was objective response rate (ORR). Secondary endpoints included R0/1 resection rate, adverse events (AEs), etc. RESULTS: Ten patients were enrolled and received at least 4 cycles of treatment. The ORR was 60%. Nine patients received R0/1 resections after neoadjuvant treatment. The median best percentage change in the sum of the target lesion diameter was 32%. Most adverse events (AEs) were grade 1 or 2.

CONCLUSIONS

Surufatinib in combination with toripalimab as neoadjuvant therapy for locally advanced DTC was feasible, and the majority of patients achieved R0/1 resection. It represents a new option for locally advanced DTC and needs further investigation.

Surufatinib-induced renal thrombotic microangiopathy: first case report and review of literature

Angiogenesis inhibitors such as tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) are common therapeutics currently used to treat oncologic disease. Surufatinib is a novel, small-molecule multiple receptor TKI approved by the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) for the treatment of progressive, advanced, and well-differentiated pancreatic and extrapancreatic neuroendocrine tumours (NETs). Thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) is a well-documented complication of TKIs targeting the VEGF-A/VEGFR2 signalling pathway. Here, we describe a 43-year-old female patient with biopsy-proven TMA and nephrotic syndrome due to surufatinib treatment for adenoid cystic carcinoma. Histological lesions included glomerular endothelial swelling, widening of subendothelial spaces, mesangiolysis, and double contour, which caused nephrotic proteinuria. Effective management was achieved by drug withdrawal and oral anti-hypertensive regents. The management of surufatinib-related nephrotoxicity without compromising its anticancer effects is challenging. Hypertension and proteinuria must be closely monitored during drug use to reduce or stop the dose in a timely manner before severe nephrotoxicity occurs.

Potent molecular-targeted therapies for gastro-entero-pancreatic neuroendocrine carcinoma

Neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs), which are characterized by neuroendocrine differentiation, can arise in various organs. NENs have been divided into well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) and poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinomas (NECs) based on morphological differentiation, each of which has a distinct etiology, molecular profile, and clinicopathological features. While the majority of NECs originate in the pulmonary organs, extrapulmonary NECs occur most predominantly in the gastro-entero-pancreatic (GEP) system. Although platinum-based chemotherapy is the main therapeutic option for recurrent or metastatic GEP-NEC patients, the clinical benefits are limited and associated with a poor prognosis, indicating the clinically urgent need for effective therapeutic agents. The clinical development of molecular-targeted therapies has been hampered due to the rarity of GEP-NECs and the paucity of knowledge on their biology. In this review, we summarize the biology, current treatments, and molecular profiles of GEP-NECs based on the findings of pivotal comprehensive molecular analyses; we also highlight potent therapeutic targets for future precision medicine based on the most recent results of clinical trials.