Dr. Zalcberg on the Efficacy of Intra-Patient Dose Escalation With Ripretinib in Advanced GIST

John Raymond Zalcberg, PhD, MBBS, a professor of Cancer Research in the School of Public Health and Preventative Medicine at Monash University, discusses the efficacy of intra-patient dose escalation with ripretinib (Qinlock) in patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), as demonstrated in an analysis of the phase 3 INVICTUS trial (NCT03353753).

In the analysis, which the strategy was tested following disease progression in patients with GIST, a benefit was observed in patients who were dose escalated, Zalcberg says. After patients progressed on a once daily dose, they had a subsequent benefit with dose escalation that resulted in a median progression-free survival 2 (PFS2)of 3.7 months, Zalcberg notes. This was substantially better than the placebo group, according to Zalcberg.

Although PFS2, defined as the time from the first dose of ripretinib to disease progression or death, was slightly less than the median PFS1, which was 4.6 months and defined as the time from randomization to disease progression, there did appear to be a clear benefit over the placebo group, Zalcberg says.