GSK stops MAGRIT trial of MAGE - A3 for Non Small Cell Lung Cancer

GlaxoSmithKline plc announced its decision to stop the MAGRIT trial, a Phase III trial of its MAGE-A3 cancer immunotherapeuticiii in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) patients, after establishing that it will not be possible to identify a sub-population of gene-signature positive NSCLC patients that may benefit from the treatment.

Data from the trial announced on 20 March 2014 showed that it did not meet its first or second co-primary endpoints as it did not significantly extend disease-free survival (DFSiv) when compared to placebo in either the overall MAGE-A3 positive population (first co-primary endpoint) or in those MAGE-A3-positive patients who did not receive chemotherapy (second co-primary endpoint). GSK continued with the MAGRIT trial to investigate the third co-primary endpoint of DFS in a gene signature positive sub-population, which was designed to identify a subset of MAGE-A3 positive patients that may benefit from the treatment. However, the pre-planned independent third-party analysis of a proportion of the data (to identify a gene signature classifier) has concluded that assessment of the third co-primary endpoint is not feasible due to an insufficient treatment effect.