Conditions: Non Squamous Cell Lung Cancer Non Small Cell Lung Cancer
Keywords: Docetaxel Sorafenib
Allocation: NA | Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Enrollment: 5
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
The purpose of this study is to assess the 2-month progression-free survival in patients with advanced or metastatic, non-squamous cell lung cancer treated with weekly low dose docetaxel in combination with a biologic dose of sorafenib.

Detailed description:
The median survival of untreated advanced stage NSCLC is 5-6 months (2,3). Patients with poor performance status due to malignancy or co-morbidities have a poorer survival. This group of patients is underrepresented in clinical trials and may not receive chemotherapy due to fear of increased toxicities with systemic chemotherapy. The overall median survival of patients with advanced NSCLC treated with first-line platinum-based doublets is less than 12 months (8 10 months) with a 1-year and 2-year survival rate of 33% and 11%, respectively (4 6). No chemotherapy regimen has a significant advantage over the others in the treatment of advanced NSCLC. Agents targeting epidermal growth factor receptor, matrix metalloproteinase, farnesyl transferase, protein kinase C and retinoic X receptor have so far shown no survival benefit in combination with chemotherapy in advanced NSCLC (7-13). Docetaxel has activity in NSCLC in both first line and second line settings. In poor performance status patients or elderly patients, single agent chemotherapy is recommended. Weekly docetaxel administration is well tolerated and has lesser incidence of hematologic toxicity with no difference in overall survival when compared to patients receiving higher doses (75 mg/m2) q 3 weeks (14-18). There is an increased need for better strategies to improve survival as well as reduce regimen related toxicity for this large group of patients. The use of targeted therapy as well as low dose-protracted chemotherapy (metronomic chemotherapy) needs evaluation as such therapies have a better toxicity profile.

Sorafenib (BAY 49-bursts of toxic maximum tolerated dose (MTD) chemotherapy interspersed with long breaks, there is now a shift in thinking towards the view that more compressed or accelerated schedules of drug administration using much smaller individual doses than the MTD would be more effective; not only in terms of reducing certain toxicities, but perhaps even in improving antitumor effect as well. Moreover, some of these dosing/scheduling strategies are ideally suited to combining chemotherapeutic agents with many of the new targeted biologic drugs. The most recent refinement of this concept is called "metronomic" chemotherapy, which refers to the frequent administration of cytotoxic chemotherapeutic agents at doses significantly below the MTD, with no prolonged drug-free breaks.

Arms:
arm 1: Subjects with advanced non-squamous cell non-small cell lung cancer with poor performance status will receive treatment in this non-randomized, open-label Phase II Study of Metronomic Chemotherapy (docetaxel) plus sorafenib as first-line therapy.

Subjects will be treated with metronomic chemotherapy with low dose docetaxel weekly for 3 out of 4 weeks, and sorafenib will be administered continuously 400 mg bid on a 28 day cycle. Treatment with metronomic chemotherapy will be expressed as a 4-week cycle.

Interventions: intervention 1: Docetaxel + Sorafenib
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Subjects will be treated with metronomic chemotherapy with low dose docetaxel weekly for 3 out of 4 weeks, and sorafenib will be administered continuously 400 mg bid on a 28 day cycle. Treatment with metronomic chemotherapy will be expressed as a 4-week cycle. Tumor response to treatment will be evaluated after every 8 weeks. Treatment with metronomic chemotherapy and sorafenib will continue for a total of 6 cycles unless there is evidence of disease progression, intolerable toxicity, or withdrawal of consent. Maintenance therapy with sorafenib will then continue until disease progression, intolerable toxicity or withdrawal of consent.

Protocol document: