Summary
Background The MET tyrosine kinase and its ligand, hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) also known as scatter factor, are associated with tumourigenesis and metastasis by promotion of scattering, proliferation, angiogenesis, motility and invasion. ASLAN-002 is a potent inhibitor of MET as well as related kinases. A phase I dose escalation study was conducted to determine the safety and pharmacokinetics of ASLAN-002 in patients with advanced cancer. Methods Patients with advanced or metastatic solid tumours, who had progressed on standard therapy or for whom standard therapy was not known, were administered ASLAN-002 orally. The starting dose was 100 mg once daily (QD) with subsequent cohorts to receive doses of 200 mg QD, 300 mg QD, 450 mg QD, 600 mg QD, 300 mg twice daily (BID), 450 mg BID, and 600 mg BID. Results Forty patients were included across 7 dose cohorts. Cohort 8 (600 mg BID) was not opened due to the lack of appreciable pharmacokinetic (PK) differences between 300 mg BID and 450 mg BID and higher incidences of grade 3 or 4 adverse events (AE) in Cohort 7 (450 mg BID). Fifteen patients (37.5%) experienced a grade 3 or 4 AE. The most commonly reported AEs were nausea (55%), fatigue (47.5%) and constipation (30%). One dose limiting toxicity (DLT) of atrial fibrillation was observed with 450 mg BID. Conclusions ASLAN-002 is well tolerated at 300 mg BID and is the recommended dose for future phase II studies (RP2D). Clinical Trials Registry Number: NCT01721148.
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This study was funded by Aslan Pharmaceuticals Pte Ltd.
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Aflah Roohullah declares he has no conflicts of interest; Adam Cooper declares he has no conflicts of interest; Anna Lomas declares she no conflicts of interest; Jennifer Aung declares she has no conflicts of interest; Alan Barge, Lilian Chow and Mark McHale are employees of Aslan; Jayesh Desai declares he has no conflicts of interest; James Whittle declares he has no conflicts of interest; Ben Tran declares he has conflicts of interest; Paul de Souza declares he has no conflicts of interest; Lisa Horvath declares she has no conflicts of interest.
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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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Roohullah, A., Cooper, A., Lomax, A.J. et al. A phase I trial to determine safety and pharmacokinetics of ASLAN002, an oral MET superfamily kinase inhibitor, in patients with advanced or metastatic solid cancers. Invest New Drugs 36, 886–894 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10637-018-0588-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10637-018-0588-7