The investigational anti-PD-1 antibody sintilimab has shown that it improves the efficacy of platinum-based chemotherapy in the first-line treatment of patients with advanced non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in a Chinese phase 3 trial dubbed ORIENT-11.
Sintilimab is a fully human IgG4 monoclonal antibody that blocks the binding of programmed death (PD)-1 to PD ligand 1 (PD-L1) or PD-L2 with high affinity, and has received market authorization in China for the treatment of Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
For ORIENT-11, almost 400 patients with advanced non-squamous NSCLC were randomly assigned to sintilimab or placebo plus pemetrexed and platinum-based chemotherapy in a 2:1 ratio.
“The addition of sintilimab to pemetrexed and platinum significantly improved PFS [progression-free survival] compared to placebo,” reducing progression rates by 52%, noted lead investigator Li Zhang, MD, professor of medical oncology, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China.
Source: Medscape