{
  "abstract": "Background Many patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have tumours that are either refractory or develop resistance following an initial response to anti-programmed cell death protein (ligand)-1 (PD-(L)1)-based treatment, resulting in limited treatment options. SAFFRON-301 evaluated whether combining the multikinase inhibitor, sitravatinib, with the anti-PD-1 antibody, tislelizumab, may overcome resistance to anti-PD-(L)1 therapy.Methods SAFFRON-301 ( NCT04921358) was an open-label, randomised, phase III trial enrolling patients with unresectable locally advanced/metastatic NSCLC, who had disease progression on or after platinum-based chemotherapy and anti-PD-(L)1 antibodies. No more than two lines of prior systemic therapy were allowed. Patients were randomised 1:1 to receive sitravatinib 100 mg orally once daily plus tislelizumab 200 mg intravenously once every 3 weeks or docetaxel 75 mg/m2 intravenously every 3 weeks. Dual primary endpoints were overall survival (OS) and Independent Review Committee (IRC)-assessed progression-free survival (PFS).Results Overall, 377 patients were enrolled and randomised to receive sitravatinib plus tislelizumab (n=187) or docetaxel (n=190); 51.2% had squamous histology and 36.6% had PD-L1 expression in ≥1% of tumour cells. At a median follow-up of 11.7 (sitravatinib plus tislelizumab) and 11.4 months (docetaxel), median OS was similar (11.5 (95% CI 9.4 to 14.6) vs 11.4 (9.9 to 15.0) months, respectively; HR, 1.02 (95% CI 0.75 to 1.39)) between treatment arms. IRC-assessed median PFS was numerically longer with sitravatinib plus tislelizumab (4.4 (95% CI 4.0 to 5.7) months) vs docetaxel (2.9 (95% CI 2.6 to 4.2) months); HR, 0.82 (95% CI 0.62 to 1.07). IRC-assessed overall response rate was 12.3% with sitravatinib plus tislelizumab vs 12.6% with docetaxel. The most commonly reported treatment-emergent adverse events grade ≥3 in sitravatinib plus tislelizumab arm were hypertension (13.4%), pneumonia (9.1%), palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia syndrome (6.5%) vs white blood cell count decreased (29.4%), neutrophil count decreased (28.8%), pneumonia (8.5%) and neutropenia (7.3%) in docetaxel arm. Grade 5 haemoptysis occurred in 3 (1.6%) patients with sitravatinib plus tislelizumab. The study was terminated due to an unfavourable risk–benefit analysis.Conclusions The SAFFRON-301 study was terminated early due to unfavourable risk–benefit assessment in the investigational arm. Due to immature survival data, efficacy results should be interpreted with caution.Trial registration number NCT04921358.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China",
        "Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China",
        "Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China"
      ],
      "name": "Qing Zhou"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Blacktown Cancer and Haematology Centre, Blacktown, New South Wales, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Bo Gao"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Respiratory Medicine, Shanghai Geriatric Medical Center, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China"
      ],
      "name": "Jie Hu"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Key laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education/Beijing), Department of Thoracic Oncology, Peking University Cancer Hospital and Institute, Beijing, China"
      ],
      "name": "Jun Zhao"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing, China"
      ],
      "name": "Mengzhao Wang"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Division of Medical Oncology, James Cancer Hospital, Pelotonia Institute for Immuno-Oncology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Kai He"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Respiratory Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, China"
      ],
      "name": "Wei Zhang"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Lung Internal Medicine, Xinjiang Cancer Hospital, Urumqi, Xinjiang, China"
      ],
      "name": "Chunling Liu"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Key laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education/Beijing), Department of Thoracic Oncology, Peking University Cancer Hospital and Institute, Beijing, China"
      ],
      "name": "Jian Fang"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, China"
      ],
      "name": "Xing ya Li"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Respiratory, Shandong Cancer Hospital, Jinan, Shandong, China"
      ],
      "name": "Zhehai Wang"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Pindara Private Hospital, Benowa, Queensland, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Marco Matos"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Cancer Research South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Vineet Kwatra"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "BeOne Medicines Ltd. (Beijing) Co., Ltd, Beijing, China"
      ],
      "name": "Wenjuan Zheng"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "BeOne Medicines Ltd. (Beijing) Co., Ltd, Beijing, China"
      ],
      "name": "Chenyang Wang"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "BeOne Medicines, Beijing, China"
      ],
      "name": "Yaxi Chen"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "BeOne Medicines Ltd. (Beijing) Co., Ltd, Beijing, China"
      ],
      "name": "Juan Zhang"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "BeOne Medicines Ltd. (Beijing) Co., Ltd, Beijing, China"
      ],
      "name": "Jun Wang"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China",
        "Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China",
        "Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital Guangdong Lung Cancer Research Institute, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China"
      ],
      "name": "Yi-Long Wu"
    }
  ],
  "title": "SAFFRON-301: a randomised phase III study of sitravatinib in combination with tislelizumab in patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer",
  "uid": "40c73fa1-3ba5-51bf-a43a-9a14e2ab8615"
}