Internal medicine

Erlotinib

Epidermal growth factor receptor

Population

Cancer

Oncology

T790M

Lung cancer

Insulin

Metformin

Gefitinib

Afatinib

Adenocarcinoma

Erlotinib Hydrochloride

Medicine

Pharmacology

Environmental health

JAMA Oncology

Metformin hydrochloride is emerging as a repurposed anticancer drug. Preclinical and retrospective studies have shown that it improves outcomes across a wide variety of neoplasms, including lung cancer. Particularly, evidence is accumulating regarding the synergistic association between metformin and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs).To assess the progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma who received treatment with EGFR-TKIs plus metformin compared with those who received EGFR-TKIs alone.Open-label, randomized, phase 2 trial conducted at the Instituto Nacional de Cancerología (INCan), Mexico City, Mexico. Eligible patients were 18 years or older, had histologically confirmed stage IIIB-IV lung adenocarcinoma with an activating EGFR mutation.Patients were randomly allocated to receive EGFR-TKIs (erlotinib hydrochloride, afatinib dimaleate, or gefitinib at standard dosage) plus metformin hydrochloride (500 mg twice a day) or EGFR-TKIs alone. Treatment was continued until occurrence of intolerable toxic effects or withdrawal of consent.The primary outcome was PFS in the intent-to-treat population. Secondary outcomes included objective response rate, disease control rate, overall survival (OS), and safety.Between March 31, 2016, and December 31, 2017, a total of 139 patients (mean [SD] age, 59.4 [12.0] years; 65.5% female) were randomly assigned to receive EGFR-TKIs (n = 70) or EGFR-TKIs plus metformin (n = 69). The median PFS was significantly longer in the EGFR-TKIs plus metformin group (13.1; 95% CI, 9.8-16.3 months) compared with the EGFR-TKIs group (9.9; 95% CI, 7.5-12.2 months) (hazard ratio, 0.60; 95% CI, 0.40-0.94; P = .03). The median OS was also significantly longer for patients receiving the combination therapy (31.7; 95% CI, 20.5-42.8 vs 17.5; 95% CI, 11.4-23.7 months; P = .02).To our knowledge, this is the first study to prospectively show that the addition of metformin to standard EGFR-TKIs therapy in patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma significantly improves PFS. These results justify the design of a phase 3, placebo-controlled study.ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03071705.

Effect of Metformin Plus Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors Compared With Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors Alone in Patients With Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor–Mutated Lung Adenocarcinoma