Real-World Survival Outcomes of Patients With High PD-L1 Advanced NSCLC Who Received Chemoimmunotherapy Versus...

Randomized studies have demonstrated superior overall survival (OS) of pembrolizumab (pembro), both alone and in combination with chemotherapy (chemo) over chemo alone in patients with programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) ≥ 50% advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We reviewed the real-world outcomes of patients who received pembro-chemo versus pembro only.

This Australian-based retrospective cohort study used data from patients with advanced NSCLC PD-L1 ≥ 50%, diagnosed between January 2016 and July 2021 and had received first-line pembro-chemo or pembro only. Patients with an EGFR/ALK/ROS1 sensitizing mutation were excluded. Cox proportional-hazards model and Kaplan-Meier methods were used to estimate OS and progression-free survival (PFS).

Of 111 eligible patients, 25 received pembro-chemo and 86 received pembro only. After a median follow-up of 15.7 months, median (95% CI) OS was not reached in the pembro-chemo group versus 15.6 (9.5-21.7) months in the pembro-only group (HR 0.57, 95% CI 0.28-1.16, p = 0.12). Median PFS was 12.4 (6.5-18.3) versus 9.5 (6.3-12.6) months in pembro-chemo versus pembro-only groups, respectively (HR 0.62, 95% CI 0.32-1.18, p = 0.18). Objective response rate (ORR) was higher in the pembro-chemo group (60% vs. 30.3%). There were more hospitalizations in the pembro-chemo group versus pembro-only group, 28% versus 18.6%, but immune-related adverse events were similar (32% vs. 32.6%).

In patients with PD-L1 ≥ 50% advanced NSCLC, addition of chemo to first-line pembro yielded a higher ORR but no additional benefit in PFS or OS, supporting a shared-decision approach. However, higher rates of hospitalizations seen in the pembro-chemo group should warrant caution in use.