Efficacy and safety of anlotinib in patients with advanced malignancy: a single-center, single-arm, phase 2 trial

Int J Clin Oncol. 2021 Sep;26(9):1611-1618. doi: 10.1007/s10147-021-01959-z. Epub 2021 Jul 23.

Abstract

Background: For advanced tumors that lack specific oncogenic alteration and are resistant to chemotherapy, anti-angiogenesis therapy or immunotherapy or a combination of the two are the most important treatments. Anlotinib is a newly developed oral small molecule receptor tyrosine kinases inhibitor with the potency of inhibiting tumor angiogenesis. This was an open-label, single-arm, phase 2 study to validate the efficacy and safety of anlotinib in patients with various cancer types.

Methods: Patients with advanced malignancy who have failed previous therapies or lack effective treatment choices received daily oral administration of 12 mg anlotinib on days 1-14 every 3 weeks until disease progression, intolerable toxicity or physician decision. The primary endpoint was objective response rate (ORR).

Results: A total of 93 eligible patients with 26 different cancer types were enrolled. The overall ORR was 21.5%. The median PFS was 5.7 months and median OS was 12.0 months. The most common treatment-related AE of all grades and of grade 3 was both hypertriglyceridemia at an incidence of 40.9% and 5.4%, respectively.

Conclusions: Anlotinib exhibits objective efficacy and safety in advanced malignancy and might be a possible treatment option for many types of cancer patients who have failed prior treatment and with no optimal therapy regimen.

Keywords: Advanced malignancies; Anlotinib; Objective response rate; Progression-free survival; Safety.