Loading
In a Japanese trial the multi-kinase inhibitor lenvatinib shrank thymic carcinoma in about four in ten patients whose disease had progressed after platinum chemotherapy, leading to its approval in Japan.
Multicentre single-arm phase 2 trial of 42 patients with unresectable advanced or metastatic thymic carcinoma previously treated with platinum-based chemotherapy, given lenvatinib 24 mg daily.
The objective response rate was 38 percent and median progression-free survival 9.3 months. Hypertension and hand-foot syndrome were common and most patients needed dose reductions.
Lenvatinib is one of the few drugs with prospective evidence in thymic carcinoma after chemotherapy, alongside sunitinib and pembrolizumab.