The study was terminated early due to recruitment challenges.

This study was planned to determine if neoadjuvant capmatinib could improve the major pathological response (MPR) in patients with Stage IB-IIIA, N2 and selected IIIB (T3N2 or T4N2) lung cancers with Mesenchymal Epithelial Transition (MET) exon 14 mutations and/or high MET amplification beyond those achieved with surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. Treatment was to be continued with capmatinib in the adjuvant setting to evaluate the potential clinical benefit of extended therapy.

The purpose of this study is to determine if neoadjuvant capmatinib can improve outcomes in participants with stages I-IIIA non-small cell lung cancer with MET exon 14 mutations and/or high MET amplification beyond those achieved with surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation.

This was a Phase II, two cohort, two stage study of capmatinib given for 8 weeks (2 cycles) prior to surgical resection, followed by three-year capmatinib treatment in adjuvant setting. Surgery had to be performed up to 2 weeks after the last dose of neoadjuvant study treatment.

There were 2 molecularly defined cohorts enrolled in parallel:

• Cohort A: MET exon 14 skipping mutations, irrespective of MET GCN or
• Cohort B: high level MET amplification (MET: GCN ≥ 10 by FISH or FoundationOne CDx NGS using tumor tissue).

Approximately 42 participants were aimed to be enrolled in the study, with 21 participants per cohort. This was planned to obtain 38 evaluable participants, 19 per each cohort. Participants who had both MET exon 14 skipping mutations and high-level MET amplification were planned to be enrolled into Cohort A. An evaluable subject received the neoadjuvant treatment and subsequently underwent surgery, resulting in a pathological response.

The study recruitment was prematurely discontinued due to significant recruitment challenges leading to termination of the study. The challenges included the rarity of the mutation and site initiation delays caused by staff shortages associated with COVID-19. As a result, only 4 subjects were enrolled and treated in Cohort A.

Key inclusion criteria:

1. Adult ≥ 18 years of age at the time of informed consent.
2. Histologically confirmed NSCLC Stage IB-IIIA, N2 and selected IIIB (T3N2 or T4N2) (per AJCC 8th edition), deemed suitable for primary resection by treating surgeon (T4 tumors with mediastinal organ invasion were not eligible for enrollment).
3. Participant must have MET exon 14 mutation and/or high-level MET amplification (MET: GCN ≥ 10) as determined by a CLIA certified laboratory. High level MET amplification must be identified by FISH in a CLIA certified laboratory or FoundationOne CDx NGS (other NGS-based methods without adjusting for tumor content % cannot be accepted).
4. Participants must be eligible for surgery and scheduled for surgical resection within approximately 2 weeks after the last dose of neoadjuvant study treatment.
5. Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (PS) of 0 or 1.

Key exclusion criteria:

1. Participants with unresectable or metastatic disease. All participants should have brain imaging (either MRI brain or CT brain with contrast) prior to enrollment to exclude brain metastasis.
2. Presence or history of a malignant disease that has been diagnosed and/or required therapy within the past 3 years. Exceptions to this exclusion include the following: completely resected basal cell and squamous cell skin cancers, and completely resected carcinoma in situ of any type.
3. Prior treatment with any MET inhibitor or HGF-targeting therapy.
4. Participants with other known oncogenic driver alterations.
5. Prior systemic anti-cancer therapy (chemotherapy, immunotherapy, biologic therapy, vaccine) or investigational agents for NSCLC.
6. Participants with known hypersensitivity to capmatinib and any of the excipients of capmatinib (crospovidone, mannitol, microcrystalline cellulose, povidone, sodium lauryl sulfate, magnesium stearate, colloidal silicon dioxide, and various coating premixes).

Other protocol-defined inclusion/exclusion criteria may apply at the end

Novartis is committed to sharing with qualified external researchers, access to patient-level data and supporting clinical documents from eligible studies. These requests are reviewed and approved by an independent review panel on the basis of scientific merit. All data provided is anonymized to respect the privacy of patients who have participated in the trial in line with applicable laws and regulations.

This trial data availability is according to the criteria and process described on https://www.clinicalstudydatarequest.com/.

On-treatment adverse events and deaths were reported from first dose of study medication up to 30 days after last dose of study medication, assessed up to approximately 20 months.

Any sign or symptom that occurred during the conduct of the trial and safety follow-up. The safety analysis were done on the safety population, which included all randomized subjects who received at least one dose of study medication.