Efficacy and safety of icotinib in the treatment of advanced EGFR mutation-positive nonsmall cell lung cancer: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Icotinib is the first generation of epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI) independently developed in China, which has been widely used in the treatment of advanced EGFR mutation-positive nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The purpose of this study was to systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of icotinib in the treatment of advanced EGFR mutation-positive NSCLC and to provide evidence-based evidence for clinical rational drug use. METHODS: Up to September 30, 2022, the databases of PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, ClinicalTrials.gov, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang were searched, and the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of icotinib (experimental group) versus gefitinib or erlotinib (control group) in the treatment of EGFR-positive advanced NSCLC were included. Two researchers independently screened the literature, extracted data, and evaluated the quality of the included literature. Revman5.4 software was used for meta-analysis. RESULTS: A total of 957 patients were included in 12 studies. The results of meta-analysis showed that the objective response rate (ORR) and disease control rate (DCR) of the experimental group were better than those of the control group (relative risk (RR) = 1.29, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.10–1.50, P = .001; RR = 1.10, 95%CI: 1.02–1.18, P = .01). There was no significant difference in progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival between the 2 groups (P > .05). The results of stratified analysis showed that icotinib significantly improved the ORR of EGFR-positive advanced NSCLC patients compared with gefitinib (RR = 1.20, 95%CI: 1.01–1.43, P = .03), but had no significant improvement in DCR (RR = 1.08, 95%CI: 0.99–1.16, P = .07). Compared with erlotinib, icotinib significantly improved ORR and DCR (RR = 1.69, 95%CI: 1.17–2.45, P = .005; RR = 1.21, 95%CI: 1.01–1.44, P = .04). In terms of adverse events of drugs, the incidence of nausea and vomiting in the experimental group was significantly lower than that in the control group (P < .05). CONCLUSION: Icotinib is safer than gefitinib or erlotinib in the treatment of advanced EGFR-positive NSCLC and seems to bring more clinical benefits to patients. However, there is no obvious advantage in improving the survival rate of patients, and long-term follow-up clinical studies are needed to verify its efficacy.