According to BioSpace, Pfizer has announced the discontinuation of a Phase III study (A4021018) examining figitumumab in combination with erlotinib as a second/third-line treatment in patients with previously treated advanced non-adenocarcinoma non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). 

An independent Data Safety Monitoring Committee (DSMC) concluded that the addition of figitumumab to erlotinib is unlikely to demonstrate a statistically significant improvement in the primary endpoint of overall survival compared to erlotinib alone in the study population.  Investigators have been instructed to work with all of their patients in the study on an individual basis to determine an appropriate course of action.

Figitumumab is an investigational fully human monoclonal antibody that acts as a highly specific inhibitor of the insulin growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R) pathway.  Pfizer is continuing to study figitumumab in clinical trials for the potential treatment of prostate, breast and lung cancers, and Ewing’s sarcoma.