Ipatasertib and Docetaxel in Metastatic NSCLC Patients Who Have Failed 1st Line Immunotherapy

For metastatic/advanced NSCLC patients who do not have targetable mutations, either immunotherapy targeting the programmed death-1 and its ligand (PD-1/L1) pathway alone or in combination with platinum doublet chemotherapy is now a standard of care. However, still about half of the patients do not benefit due to treatment resistance. It is therefore critically important to find novel therapies and combinations to benefit patients who have failed or are intolerant to 1st line immunotherapy. This study hypothesizes that ipatasertib in combination with taxane (e.g. docetaxel) can be an effective strategy. Ipatasertib is a novel adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-competitive inhibitor that has demonstrated robust and selective targeting of protein kinase B (PKB, also known as AKT) in cancer patients. Importantly, evidence from preclinical studies has demonstrated that AKT inhibitors (e.g. ipatasertib) can enhance the therapeutic effect of chemotherapy as well as immunotherapy via modulating Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3'K)-AKT activity.