Novartis’ Zykadia ASCEND-4 Study Close But No Cigar In NSCLC

Patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase-positive (ALK+) advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated first-line with Novartis’s Zykadia (ceritinib) showed a doubling of mean progression-free survival compared with those on standard first-line chemotherapy, the full data from the ASCEND-4 study presented at the World Conference on Lung Cancer in Vienna this week reveal. The median PFS with Zykadia was 16.6 months, compared to 8.1 months in patients treated with standard first-line chemotherapy with maintenance, equating to a 45% reduction in the risk of disease progression (p<0.001).