BeyondSpring (NASDAQ:BYSI) presented encouraging results from the Asian subset of its global Phase 3 DUBLIN-3 trial at ESMO Asia 2025, evaluating the combination of plinabulin and docetaxel versus docetaxel alone in second-line and third-line EGFR wild-type non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
The trial's Asian intention-to-treat (ITT) cohort, comprising 488 patients, demonstrated a significant improvement in median overall survival (OS), with plinabulin + docetaxel achieving a median OS of 10.8 months compared to 8.8 months for docetaxel alone (HR 0.81, p=0.0426).
In the non-squamous subgroup, which was mechanism-aligned, the combination therapy showed an even more substantial benefit, with a hazard ratio of 0.69 and a 3-month median OS improvement (p=0.0064).
Notably, the plinabulin + docetaxel combination doubled the 2- and 3-year survival rates compared to docetaxel alone.
The combination also significantly reduced the incidence of grade 4 neutropenia, a common side effect of docetaxel, with only 3.9% of patients in the combination arm experiencing severe neutropenia versus 26.5% in the docetaxel-only arm (p<0.0001).
The combination therapy maintained a favorable safety profile, with manageable tolerability, further supporting the potential of plinabulin in enhancing the efficacy of docetaxel in treating EGFR wild-type NSCLC.