Long-Term Real-World Outcomes of First-Line Pembrolizumab Monotherapy for Metastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer With ≥50% Expression of Programmed Cell Death-Ligand 1

• Published in: Frontiers in oncology 2022-03, Vol.12, p.834761-834761
• Main Authors: Velcheti, Vamsidhar, Hu, Xiaohan, Yang, Lingfeng, Pietanza, M Catherine, Burke, Thomas
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: manual chart review; non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC); observational study; Oncology; overall survival (OS); pembrolizumab; real-world progression-free survival (rwPFS)
• ISSN: 2234-943X; 2234-943X
• DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2022.834761

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) of programmed cell death 1/programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-1/PD-L1) have been rapidly adopted in US clinical practice for first-line therapy of metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) since regulatory approval in October 2016, and a better understanding is needed of long-term outcomes of ICI therapy administered in real-world settings outside of clinical trials. Our aim was to describe long-term outcomes of first-line pembrolizumab monotherapy at US oncology practices for patients with metastatic NSCLC, PD-L1 expression ≥50%, and good performance status. This retrospective two-cohort study used technology-enabled abstraction of deidentified electronic health records (EHR cohort) plus enhanced manual chart review (spotlight cohort) to study adult patients with stage IV NSCLC, PD-L1 expression ≥50%, no documented / genomic aberration, and ECOG performance status 0-1 who initiated first-line pembrolizumab monotherapy from 1-November-2016 to 31-March-2020 (EHR cohort, with data cutoff 31-March-2021) or from 1-December-2016 to 30-November-2017 (spotlight cohort, with data cutoff 31-August-2020). Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to determine overall survival (OS; both cohorts) and, for the spotlight cohort, real-world progression-free survival (rwPFS) and real-world tumor response (rwTR). The EHR cohort included 566 patients (298 [53%] men); the spotlight cohort included 228 (105 [46%] men); median age in both cohorts was 71. Median follow-up from pembrolizumab initiation to data cutoff was 35.1 months (range, 12.0-52.7) and 38.4 months (range, 33.1-44.9) in EHR and spotlight cohorts, respectively. Median OS was 19.6 months (95% CI, 16.6-24.3) and 21.1 months (95% CI, 16.2-28.9), respectively; 3-year OS rates were 36.2% and 38.2% in EHR and spotlight cohorts, respectively. In the spotlight cohort, median rwPFS was 7.3 months (95% CI, 5.7-9.2); 88 patients (38.6%; 95% CI, 32.2-45.2) experienced rwTR of complete or partial response. For 151/228 patients (66%) who discontinued pembrolizumab, the most common reasons were disease progression (70 [46%]) and therapy-related adverse effects (35 [23%]). Real-world outcomes remain consistent with outcomes observed in clinical trials, supporting long-term benefits of first-line pembrolizumab monotherapy for patients with metastatic NSCLC, PD-L1 expression ≥50%, and good performance status.