The following article features coverage from the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2017 Congress in Madrid, Spain. Click here to read more of Cancer Therapy Advisor’s conference coverage.

Durvalumab may prolong progression-free survival (PFS) among patients with locally advanced, unresectable non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to interim data from a late-breaking abstract presented at the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2017 Congress.1

In the PACIFIC phase 3 trial (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02125461), researchers randomly assigned 713 patients with NSCLC who did not progress after 2 or more cycles of platinum-based concurrent chemoradiation therapy (cCRT) to receive durvalumab 10 mg/kg consolidation therapy or placebo for up to 12 months. Patients were stratified by sex, age, and smoking history.


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At a median follow-up of 14.5 months, median PFS was significantly longer in patients who received durvalumab (16.8 months; 95% CI, 13.0-18.1) compared with placebo (5.6 months; 95% CI, 4.6-7.8; stratified hazard ratio [HR], 0.52; 95% CI;0.42-0.65; P < .0001). The 12-month PFS rates among patients receiving durvalumab and placebo were 55.9% and 35.3%, respectively; 18-month PFS rates were 44.2% and 27.0%, respectively.

Patients who received durvalumab consolidation therapy had an increased overall response rate (28.4% vs 16.0% in patients who received placebo [P < .001]), and a longer median duration of response (not reached vs 13.8 months, respectively).

Time to death or distant metastasis was longer in the durvalumab group compared with the placebo group (23.2 months vs 14.6 months, respectively; HR, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.39-0.69; P < .0001).

Grade 3 to 4 adverse events (AE) were reported among 29.9% and 26.1% of patients receiving durvalumab and placebo, respectively. The most frequently reported AE was pneumonia. The rate of discontinuation due to an AE was 15.4% in the durvalumab arm and 9.8% in the placebo arm.

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The authors concluded that “durvalumab is a promising therapeutic option in this setting.”

Read more of Cancer Therapy Advisor‘s coverage of the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2017 Congress by visiting the conference page.

Reference

  1. Paz-Ares L, Villegas A, Daniel D, et al. PACIFIC: A double-blind, placebo-controlled phase III study of durvalumab after chemoradiation therapy (CRT) in patients with stage III, locally advanced, unresectable NSCLC. Presented at: European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2017 Congress; Madrid, Spain: September 8-12, 2017. Abstract LBA1_PR.