LOGGIC/FIREFLY-2: a phase 3, randomized trial of tovorafenib vs. chemotherapy in pediatric and young adult patients with newly diagnosed low-grade glioma harboring an activating RAF alteration
Cornelis M. van Tilburg,
Lindsay B. Kilburn,
Sébastien Perreault,
Rene Schmidt,
Amedeo A. Azizi,
Ofelia Cruz-Martínez,
Michal Zápotocký,
Katrin Scheinemann,
Antoinette Y. N. Schouten-van Meeteren,
Astrid Sehested,
Enrico Opocher,
Pablo Hernáiz Driever,
Shivaram Avula,
David S. Ziegler,
David Capper,
Arend Koch,
Felix Sahm,
Jiaheng Qiu,
Li-Pen Tsao,
Samuel C. Blackman,
Peter Manley,
Till Milde,
Ruth Witt,
David T. W. Jones,
Darren Hargrave,
Olaf Witt
Affiliations
Cornelis M. van Tilburg
Hopp Children’s Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ)
Lindsay B. Kilburn
Children’s National Hospital
Sébastien Perreault
CHU Sainte-Justine, Université de Montréal
Rene Schmidt
Institute of Biostatistics and Clinical Research
Amedeo A. Azizi
Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Comprehensive Center for Pediatrics and Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna
Ofelia Cruz-Martínez
Neuro-oncology Unit, Pediatric Cancer Center, Hospital Sant Joan de Déu
Michal Zápotocký
Department of Paediatric Haematology and Oncology, Charles University, Second Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Motol
Katrin Scheinemann
Division of Oncology-Hematology, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Switzerland
Antoinette Y. N. Schouten-van Meeteren
Department of Neuro-oncology, Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology
Astrid Sehested
Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine
Enrico Opocher
Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplant Division, Padua University Hospital
Pablo Hernáiz Driever
German HIT-LOGGIC-Registry for LGG in Children and Adolescents, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Shivaram Avula
Department of Radiology, Alder Hey Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
David S. Ziegler
Kids Cancer Centre, Sydney Children’s Hospital
David Capper
Department of Neuropathology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Arend Koch
Department of Neuropathology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Felix Sahm
Department of Neuropathology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), University Hospital Heidelberg and CCU Neuropathology, German Consortium for Translational Cancer Research (DKTK)
Jiaheng Qiu
Day One Biopharmaceuticals
Li-Pen Tsao
Day One Biopharmaceuticals
Samuel C. Blackman
Day One Biopharmaceuticals
Peter Manley
Day One Biopharmaceuticals
Till Milde
Hopp Children’s Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ)
Ruth Witt
Hopp Children’s Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ)
David T. W. Jones
Hopp Children’s Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ)
Darren Hargrave
UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health and Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children
Abstract Background Pediatric low-grade glioma (pLGG) is essentially a single pathway disease, with most tumors driven by genomic alterations affecting the mitogen-activated protein kinase/ERK (MAPK) pathway, predominantly KIAA1549::BRAF fusions and BRAF V600E mutations. This makes pLGG an ideal candidate for MAPK pathway-targeted treatments. The type I BRAF inhibitor, dabrafenib, in combination with the MEK inhibitor, trametinib, has been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for the systemic treatment of BRAF V600E-mutated pLGG. However, this combination is not approved for the treatment of patients with tumors harboring BRAF fusions as type I RAF inhibitors are ineffective in this setting and may paradoxically enhance tumor growth. The type II RAF inhibitor, tovorafenib (formerly DAY101, TAK-580, MLN2480), has shown promising activity and good tolerability in patients with BRAF-altered pLGG in the phase 2 FIREFLY-1 study, with an objective response rate (ORR) per Response Assessment in Neuro-Oncology high-grade glioma (RANO-HGG) criteria of 67%. Tumor response was independent of histologic subtype, BRAF alteration type (fusion vs. mutation), number of prior lines of therapy, and prior MAPK-pathway inhibitor use. Methods LOGGIC/FIREFLY-2 is a two-arm, randomized, open-label, multicenter, global, phase 3 trial to evaluate the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of tovorafenib monotherapy vs. current standard of care (SoC) chemotherapy in patients < 25 years of age with pLGG harboring an activating RAF alteration who require first-line systemic therapy. Patients are randomized 1:1 to either tovorafenib, administered once weekly at 420 mg/m2 (not to exceed 600 mg), or investigator’s choice of prespecified SoC chemotherapy regimens. The primary objective is to compare ORR between the two treatment arms, as assessed by independent review per RANO-LGG criteria. Secondary objectives include comparisons of progression-free survival, duration of response, safety, neurologic function, and clinical benefit rate. Discussion The promising tovorafenib activity data, CNS-penetration properties, strong scientific rationale combined with the manageable tolerability and safety profile seen in patients with pLGG led to the SIOPe-BTG-LGG working group to nominate tovorafenib for comparison with SoC chemotherapy in this first-line phase 3 trial. The efficacy, safety, and functional response data generated from the trial may define a new SoC treatment for newly diagnosed pLGG. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT05566795. Registered on October 4, 2022.