Dr. Wong Discusses Recent Negative Trials in Glioblastoma

Eric T. Wong, MD, associate professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School and co-director of the Brain Tumor Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, discusses recent negative trials in glioblastoma.

At the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting, there were 2 negative trials presented in glioblastoma. One such study was of depatuxizumab mafodotin, an EGFR-targeting antibody-drug conjugate, combined with radiation therapy and temozolomide (Temodar) compared with radiation and temozolomide. There was no improvement in survival with the novel regimen in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma.

The second study was CheckMate-498, in which nivolumab (Opdivo) was added to radiation and temozolomide and compared with standard therapy in patients with newly diagnosed O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase-unmethylated glioblastoma multiforme. The addition of the PD-1 inhibitor did not lead to an improvement in survival.

Additionally, data from the CheckMate-143 showed that nivolumab did not improve overall survival compared with bevacizumab (Avastin) in patients with first recurrence. This begs the question of why research has yet to result in an improvement in patient outcomes in this space, as other tumor types are moving forward with targeted therapy and immunotherapy.