Pyrotinib plus antiangiogenic agents for HER2‐altered advanced non‐small cell lung cancer: A retrospective real‐world study

BACKGROUND: Although some targeted therapies have been shown to be effective in treating HER2‐altered non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the survival demands have not yet been met due to the high cost and limited availability. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness and safety of pyrotinib plus antiangiogenic agents, including apatinib, anlotinib, and bevacizumab, in previously treated patients with HER2‐altered advanced NSCLC. METHODS: In this retrospective real‐world study, patients with HER2‐altered NSCLC who received pyrotinib plus antiangiogenic agents as a second‐ or later‐line treatment between November 2015 and January 2022 were reviewed. The objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), progression‐free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and safety profiles of patients were analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 107 patients were included in the analysis, of which 59 patients (55.1%) had received at least two lines of prior chemotherapy or tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Most of them (87.9%) were identified as harboring HER2 exon 20 insertions. At the data cutoff date (May 13, 2022), the ORR, DCR, median PFS, and median OS were 19.6% (21/107), 94.4% (101/107), 7.13 months (95% confidence interval [CI]: 6.26–8.01), and 19.50 months (95% CI: 12.83–26.17), respectively. There was no difference in the PFS between patients receiving apatinib or anlotinib/bevacizumab (median PFS, 7.13 vs. 6.27 months, hazard ratio [HR] = 1.49, 95% CI: 0.87–2.54, p = 0.15). The most frequent grade 3 or higher treatment‐related adverse events was diarrhea (17.6%), followed by hypertension (11.0%) and nausea (3.3%). No treatment‐related death occurred. CONCLUSION: In this study, pyrotinib plus antiangiogenic agents demonstrated promising efficacy and were tolerable in HER2‐altered NSCLC patients.