Cemiplimab plus chemotherapy prolongs life and improves QoL in patients with advanced lung cancer

USA: Cemiplimab plus chemotherapy can improve survival and also affects quality of life in patients with advanced lung cancer versus placebo plus  platinum chemotherapy, an analysis of the multinational phase 3 EMPOWER-Lung 3 trial has shown. The findings were published online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. 

The multinational phase 3 EMPOWER-Lung 3 trial had shown that the addition of cemiplimab to platinum-based chemotherapy was associated with improved survival in patients with advanced stage non–small cell lung cancer compared to chemotherapy alone. Because quality of life is also an important parameter for treatment benefit, investigators examined how cemiplimab plus platinum affected symptoms in comparison to chemotherapy alone for patients enrolled into this trial using the EORTC QLQ-C30 and QLQ-LC13 questionnaires.

Patients who received cemiplimab plus chemotherapy experienced significant improvements in pain, dyspnea, constipation, nausea, and vomiting compared to those who received placebo plus chemotherapy. Patients enrolled in the cemiplimab arm also had a significant delay in the clinically meaningful deterioration of symptoms including cough, hemoptysis, and dysphagia. 

312 patients were assigned to receive cemiplimab plus platinum-doublet chemotherapy and 154 to receive placebo plus chemotherapy; 83.9% were male and the median age was 63.0 years.  

“The findings support the concept that the superior efficacy and favorable safety profile of cemiplimab plus chemotherapy translate to better patient-reported outcomes compared with chemotherapy alone in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer,” said corresponding author Tamta Makharadze, MD, of LTD High Technology Hospital Med Center in Batumi, Georgia.

Reference:

Tamta Makharadze, Ruben G. W. Quek, Tamar Melkadze, Miranda Gogishvili, Cristina Ivanescu, Davit Giorgadze, Mikhail Dvorkin, Published: 08 May 2023 https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.34687.