Plain language summary of the EVOKE-01 study of sacituzumab govitecan vs docetaxel in patients with non-small cell lung cancer

Abstract

What is this summary about?There are few treatment choices for people with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) when it gets worse after prior treatments. Available treatments lead to poor survival outcomes and severe side effects.This summarizes the results of a study called EVOKE-01. This study compared a newer medicine called sacituzumab govitecan (brand name: TRODELVY®) with a commonly used chemotherapy called docetaxel. People in the study had NSCLC that was advanced or had become metastatic after being treated with other medicines that contain platinum plus an immunotherapy.What were the results?After a median of 13 months of observation in the study, people with advanced or metastatic NSCLC who were treated with sacituzumab govitecan did not live significantly longer than those who were treated with docetaxel. However, similar to docetaxel, many people were helped by sacituzumab govitecan treatment, and patients taking sacituzumab govitecan appeared to live somewhat longer than those who were given docetaxel.People were helped no matter what type of NSCLC they had. The positive effects of sacituzumab govitecan treatment were more obvious in people whose disease did not get better after their last immunotherapy. People given sacituzumab govitecan had fewer severe side effects. Fewer had to stop sacituzumab govitecan treatment, compared with those who were given docetaxel. People who got sacituzumab govitecan in this study had similar side effects as people who took sacituzumab govitecan in other studies. Shortness of breath is a key symptom of NSCLC. People who got sacituzumab govitecan took longer to have shortness of breath compared with people who got docetaxel. This suggests that sacituzumab govitecan controlled the disease better than docetaxel.What do the results mean?This study suggested that some people with advanced or metastatic NSCLC might live slightly longer when treated with sacituzumab govitecan than with docetaxel, especially those whose cancer did not respond to earlier treatment with immunotherapy. In this study, about the same number of people who got sacituzumab govitecan or docetaxel had any side effects. Fewer people had severe/life-threatening side effects or had to stop treatment because of side effects with sacituzumab govitecan than docetaxel. These results support future studies of sacituzumab govitecan as a potential treatment for people with previously treated advanced or metastatic NSCLC.