Introduction: In NSCLC, increased microvessel count, often used as a measure of angiogenesis, has been correlated with poor prognosis and associated with advanced disease and inferior outcomes. In the clinical development of antiangiogenic therapies, two approaches have been used; the first has been to inhibit ligand binding and receptor activation using targeted antibodies, whereas the second has been to inhibit receptor activation using tyrosine kinase inhibitors that target VEGF receptor (VEGFR), platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR) and/or fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR). Nintedanib is a triple angiokinase inhibitor that simultaneously acts on VEGFR, PDGFR and FGFR. It has shown significant antiangiogenic and antineoplastic activities in vitro, in preventing tumor growth and overcoming drug resistance.
Areas covered: Medline search was used with the following keywords: non-small-cell lung cancer and nintedanib or BIBF 1120, ASCO abstracts 2013 with nintedanib, and Phase I and Phase II abstracts lung cancer and nintedanib.
Expert opinion: Recent Phase III trials have shown promising efficacy results of nintedanib in NSCLC; however, many questions still need to be answered before it is put into routine use.