BATTLE was a randomized phase II, single-center, open-label study in patients with advanced NSCLC refractory to prior chemotherapy (Fig. 1). Following molecular tumor-biomarker assessments, patients were randomly assigned to oral treatment with erlotinib (150 mg once daily; Tarceva, OSIP/Genentech), vandetanib (300 mg once daily; Zactima, AstraZeneca), erlotinib (150 mg once daily) plus bexarotene (400 mg/m2 once daily; Targretin, Eisai), or sorafenib (400 mg twice daily; Nexavar, Bayer/Onyx). The primary end point was the disease control rate (DCR) at eight weeks. Secondary end points included response rate, progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and toxicity. Planned exploratory objectives were each treatment's efficacy in relation to patient biomarker profiles.
The Institutional Review boards of M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and the U.S. Department of Defense approved the study, which was monitored by an independent Data and Safety Monitoring Board.