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Plinabulin/Docetaxel Combination Demonstrated Favorable Benefit/Risk Ratio over Docetaxel Alone: Significant Improvement in Overall Survival, Progression Free Survival, and Objective Response, with additional Significant Reduction of Grade 4 Neutropenia (>80% relative reduction), and Improved Patients’ Quality of Life

FLORHAM PARK, N.J., Sept. 16, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BeyondSpring Inc. (NASDAQ: BYSI) (“BeyondSpring” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage global biopharmaceutical company developing innovative cancer therapies, presented final data on Dublin-3 study (2L/3L EGFR wild-type NSCLC) focusing on safety outcomes on September 14, 2024 at European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2024 in Barcelona, Spain. Full data on Dublin-3 study was published on September 9, 2024 in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine (https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(24)00178-4).

Docetaxel remains the standard of care for patients with 2L/3L NSCLC without targetable alterations despite severe neutropenia (>40%) that greatly impair patients’ quality of life. Six recent phase 3 studies in patients with EGFR wild-type NSCLC who were previously treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors failed to show overall survival (OS) benefit compared with docetaxel (SAPPHIRE, LEAP-008, CONTACT01, EVOKE-01, CARMEN-LC03, and CANOPY-2). Two phase 3 studies (LUNAR and TROPION-Lung01) showed positive but mixed outcomes compared with docetaxel.

The DUBLIN-3 study was a multicenter, single-blinded, randomized controlled trial that enrolled patients from 58 medical centers across Australia, China, and the USA. 559 patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) wild-type NSCLC were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive either docetaxel and plinabulin (n=278) or docetaxel and placebo (n=281). The plinabulin/docetaxel combination significantly improved overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and objective response rate (ORR) compared to docetaxel alone. (Click here for related press release.)

This poster presentation focused on plinabulin and docetaxel combination safety vs. docetaxel alone, as shown below:

• The combination is well tolerated: Similar percentages of patients experienced ≥1TEAE (treatment emergent adverse events); 99.6% in the combination arm and 99.3% in the docetaxel arm. There was less grade 4 TEAE in the combination arm (19.0%) vs. 42.8% in the docetaxel arm.

• The combination had >80% relative reduction in Grade 4 neutropenia (p<0.001): The combination arm had a 5.3 % Grade 4 neutropenia in Cycle 1 Day 8 compared to 27.8% in docetaxel alone (81% reduction, p<0.0001). The combination arm had a 5.1 % Grade 4 neutropenia in all cycles Day 8 compared to 33.6% in docetaxel alone (85% reduction, p<0.0001). In addition, hospital admission due to febrile neutropenia was lower in the combination arm (7 [2.6%] patients) vs. docetaxel arm (14 [5.0%] patients).

• The combination had reduced use of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) in all cycles: Post-hoc analysis showed reduced G-CSF use in the combination arm (152 [56%] patients) vs. docetaxel arm (182 [66%] patients) and at cycles 1 to 4.

• The combination had improved quality-of-life (QoL) based on Q-TWiST data: Exploratory analysis showed better QoL based on Q-TWiST in the combination arm, with a clinically meaningful relative gain to the docetaxel arm of 18.5%(p=0.0393).

• The combination had a significant reduction in cycle-adjusted serious adverse events (SAE): Patients randomized to the combination received more cycles of treatment. When cycles were adjusted for SAEs, plinabulin significantly decreased Grade 3/4 SAEs (p=0.0235) and Grade 4 SAEs (p<0.0001).

• The combination had manageable side effects: Plinabulin induced mostly asymptomatic transient hypertension, which mostly resolved within 4-6 hours after infusion without medication. In addition, plinabulin induced GI side effects, including nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, which were effectively managed following a protocol adjustment to add the prophylactic use of antiemetics and increase time of infusion.