[177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 in patients with PSMA-positive metastatic androgen pathway modulator-naive/sensitive prostate cancer (PSMAddition): a phase 3 randomised, controlled trial

Author(s): Prof Scott T Tagawa, MD1; Prof Oliver Sartor, MD2; Josep M Piulats, MD3; Prof Fred Saad, MD4; Prof Karim Fizazi, MD5; Alison Reid, MD6; Prof Himisha Beltran, MD7; Prof Gero Kramer, MD8; Hakim Mahammedi, MD9; Prof Matthias Eiber, MD10; Shilpa Gupta, MD11; Daniel Castellano, MD12; Ralph Hauke, MD13; Hyun Kim, MD14; Cheol Kwak, MD15; Prof See Tong Pang, MD16,17; Prof Philippe Barthélémy, MD18; Dong Dai, MD19,20; Jae Lyun Lee, MD21; Luke Nordquist, MD22; Russell Z Szmulewitz, MD23; Prof Paweł Wiechno, MD24; Alejandro Yovine, MD25; Lauren Smith, MSCi26; Emmanuel Bouillaud, PhD25; Olga Sakharova, MD25; Prof Michael J Morris, MD27;
Source: DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(26)01092-5

Dr. Maen Hussein's Thoughts

Combining 177Lu-PSMA-617 with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) plus androgen receptor pathway inhibitor (ARPI) prolonged radiographic progression-free survival in patients with prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) -positive disease, Radiographic progression-free survival was significantly improved in the 177Lu-PSMA-617 arm vs the control arm, with a 28% reduction in the relative risk of radiographic progression or death (HR 0·72 [95% CI 0·58–0·90]; p=0·0021; dry mouth was the most common side effects. Moving to frontline

BACKGROUND

A contemporary standard of care for patients with metastatic androgen pathway modulator-naive/sensitive (APMN/S) prostate cancer (also known as metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer) is androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) plus an androgen receptor pathway inhibitor (ARPI) until progression. PSMAddition aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 (177Lu-PSMA-617) combined with ADT plus ARPI in prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-positive metastatic APMN/S prostate cancer.

METHODS

PSMAddition is an ongoing, randomised, controlled, phase 3 superiority trial conducted 169 sites across 20 countries, including hospitals, medical centres, and specialist cancer centres. Eligible male patients had treatment-naive or minimally treated metastatic APMN/S prostate cancer diagnosed by CT, MRI, or bone scan and one or more PSMA-positive metastatic lesion on centrally read baseline [68Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 PET. Patients were randomly assigned 1:1 to open-label, intravenous 177Lu-PSMA-617 (7·4 GBq [200 mCi] ±10% every 6 weeks for up to six cycles) with ADT plus ARPI (177Lu-PSMA-617 arm) or ADT plus ARPI (control arm). ADT and ARPI were investigator-chosen according to local authorisation and administered per local product labelling. Control arm patients with centrally confirmed radiographic progression could cross over to 177Lu-PSMA-617. The primary endpoint was radiographic progression-free survival (centrally assessed per Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials Working Group 3-modified RECIST 1.1 or death); secondary endpoints included safety and tolerability. We report the second interim analysis of radiographic progression-free survival in the intention-to-treat population (all randomly assigned participants; data cutoff Jan 13, 2025). Safety was assessed in all patients who received least one dose of study treatment. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04720157, and is ongoing.

FINDINGS

From June 15, 2021, to July 25, 2023, 1529 patients were screened and 1144 were randomly assigned (n=572 per arm; 1144 [100%] male, 572 [50%] with de novo metastatic APMN/S prostate cancer, 779 [68%] with high-volume disease; median age 68·0 years [IQR 62·0–73·0]). Baseline characteristics were balanced between arms. second interim analysis for radiographic progression-free survival (median time from randomisation to data cutoff 23·6 months [IQR 20·3–29·2]; median radiographic progression-free survival follow-up time 19·6 months [IQR 14·0–24·1]), 139 (24%) of 572 participants in the 177Lu-PSMA-617 arm and 172 (30%) of 572 participants in the control arm had radiographic disease progression or death. Radiographic progression-free survival was significantly improved in the 177Lu-PSMA-617 arm versus the control arm, with a 28% reduction in the relative risk of radiographic progression or death (HR 0·72 [95% CI 0·58–0·90]; p=0·0021; median radiographic progression-free survival not reached in either arm). The primary endpoint was thus met. Grade 3 or worse adverse events occurred in 286 (51%) of 564 patients in the 177Lu-PSMA-617 arm and 243 (43%) of 565 patients in the control arm. Serious adverse events occurred in 180 (32%) of 564 patients in the 177Lu-PSMA-617 arm and 162 (29%) of 565 in the control arm; of which 17 (3%) in the 177Lu-PSMA-617 arm were 177Lu-PSMA-617-related. The most common adverse event was dry mouth, in 258 (46%) patients in the 177Lu-PSMA-617 arm and 21 (4%) patients in the control arm; all were grade 1 or 2 and none were serious. Other common adverse events with higher incidence in the 177Lu-PSMA-617 arm included cytopenias and gastrointestinal disturbances.

INTERPRETATION

Combining 177Lu-PSMA-617 with ADT plus ARPI prolonged radiographic progression-free survival in patients with PSMA-positive metastatic APMN/S prostate cancer. Although adverse events were more frequent, there were no unexpected safety findings associated with the drug combination. Therefore, combining 177Lu-PSMA-617 with ADT plus ARPI might be a new treatment option in metastatic APMN/S prostate cancer.

Author Affiliations

1Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA; 2LCMC Health, New Orleans, LA, USA; 3Institut Català d’Oncologia, Institut d’Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge, Barcelona, Spain; 4The University of Montreal Hospital Center, Montreal, QC, Canada; 5Centre Oscar Lambret, University of Paris-Saclay, Lille, France; 6The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK; 7Division of Medical Oncology, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA; 8Department of Urology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; 9Centre Jean Perrin and INSERM U1240 IMost Université Clermont Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France; 10School of Medicine and Health, Technical University of Munich, TUM University Hospital, Munich, Germany; 11Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH, USA; 12Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Madrid, Spain; 13Nebraska Cancer Specialists, Omaha, NE, USA; 14Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA; 15Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, South Korea; 16Chang Gung Memorial Hospital Linkou, Taoyuan, Taiwan; 17Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan; 18University Hospital Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France; 19Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, National Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Therapy, Tianjin's Clinical Research Center for China, Tianjin, China; 20Tianjin Cancer Hospital Airport Hospital, National Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Tianjin, China; 21Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea; 22XCancer, Omaha, NE, USA; 23University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA; 24Maria Skłodowska-Curie National Research Institute of Oncology, Warsaw, Poland; 25Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Basel, Switzerland; 26Novartis Pharmaceuticals UK, London, UK; 27Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

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