Capmatinib for the treatment of METex14 skipping non-small cell lung cancer: retrospective analysis of real-world data from patients receiving compassionate use treatment in Italy

In patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), MET exon 14 ( MET ex14) skipping mutations are rare and are associated with a poor prognosis. Capmatinib, a selective oral MET inhibitor, was recently approved for the treatment of advanced MET ex14 skipping NSCLC. However, data from real-world experiences are limited. This was a retrospective analysis using real-world data from Italian patients with advanced MET ex14 skipping NSCLC who had received at least one treatment with immunotherapy and/or platinum-based chemotherapy and received compassionate use treatment with capmatinib. Patient characteristics, treatment details, discontinuations, and adverse events are reported. Overall, 53 patients received capmatinib after receiving treatment with immunotherapy and/or platinum-based chemotherapy in Italy. Patients had a median age of 74 years, mostly metastatic disease (92.5% of patients), and previously received one (66.0%) or more (2: 28.3%; 3: 5.7%) lines of standard treatment (immunotherapy and/or platinum-based chemotherapy). Most patients (98.1%) started treatment with capmatinib at the full recommended dose of 400 mg twice daily and 77.4% did not require a dose reduction. Twenty-four patients (45.3%) discontinued treatment; the most frequent reason for discontinuing treatment was disease progression, with a median estimated time to treatment discontinuation of 15.2 months. This real-world retrospective analysis confirms that capmatinib is a valuable treatment option for difficult-to-treat MET ex14 skipping NSCLC, in agreement with the data from the registration trial.