For patients with limited-stage small cell lung cancer, adjuvant therapy with durvalumab leads to significantly longer overall and progression-free survival, according to a study. published online Sept. 13 in the New England Journal of Medicine to coincide with the annual meeting of the European Society for Medical Oncology, held from Sept. 13 to 17 in Barcelona, ​​Spain.

Ying Cheng, MD, from Jilin Cancer Hospital in Changchun, China, and colleagues conducted a phase 3 trial involving patients with limited-stage small cell lung cancer who did not have disease progression after standard concurrent platinum-based chemoradiotherapy.

Participants were randomly allocated to receive durvalumab 1,500 mg (264 patients), durvalumab 1,500 mg plus tremelimumab 75 mg (four doses only; 200 patients), or placebo (266 patients) every four weeks for up to 24 months. The first planned interim analysis compared overall and progression-free survival for durvalumab versus placebo.

The researchers observed significantly longer overall survival with durvalumab therapy versus placebo (median, 55.9 versus 33.4 months; hazard ratio for death, 0.73); in addition, significantly longer progression-free survival was seen (median, 16.6 versus 9.2 months; hazard ratio for progression or death, 0.76).

The incidence of adverse events with a maximum grade of 3 or 4 was 24.4 and 24.2% among patients receiving durvalumab and placebo, respectively; adverse events led to discontinuation in 16.4 and 10.6%, respectively, and to death in 2.7 and 1.9%, respectively.

“The incorporation of adjuvant durvalumab therapy led to significantly longer overall survival and progression-free survival among patients with limited-stage small cell lung cancer after definitive concurrent chemoradiotherapy,” the authors write.

Several authors disclosed ties to biopharmaceutical companies, including AstraZeneca, which manufactures durvalumab and funded the study.

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