An unmet need remains for effective, well-tolerated treatment options in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer that can alleviate the disease burden for a broad selection of patients. Nintedanib (Vargatef) is a potent, oral, triple angiokinase inhibitor of three distinct pro-angiogenic pathways. A recent Phase III trial of second-line nintedanib plus docetaxel met the primary end point of progression-free survival and demonstrated significant benefit in the key secondary end point of overall survival, with median overall survival greater than 1 year for patients with adenocarcinoma histology. This article summarizes preclinical and clinical experience with nintedanib in non-small-cell lung cancer to date and discusses how it may be used in the future, including prospects for individualizing treatment by tumor proliferation dynamics and molecular biomarkers of response.
Keywords: anti-angiogenesis; biomarker; docetaxel; nintedanib; pemetrexed; second-line treatment.