Prognostic factors in advanced NSCLC: Experience from the FLEX trial

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Background: The FLEX trial demonstrated superior survival for cisplatin/vinorelbine plus cetuximab versus cisplatin/vinorelbine alone in patients with advanced EGFR-positive NSCLC. Here we report on the prognostic factors observed in the trial independent of cetuximab treatmentMethods: 1125 patients were randomized to cisplatin/vinorelbine plus cetuximab or cisplatin/vinorelbine alone. Prognostic factors were determined by both univariate and multivariate analyses. Results: Patient baseline characteristics were: 70% male, median age 59 (18–83) years, 31% older than 65 years, 94% stage IV, 47% adenocarcinoma, 34% squamous cell carcinoma, 83% ECOG 0/1. The trial confirmed the following prognostic factors in the univariate analysis: gender, performance status, histology, smoking status, and ethnicity. Females had longer survival than males (12.7 versus 9.3 months). Patients with ECOG performance status 0, 1, and 2 had median survival times of 13.5, 10.6 and 5.9 months, respectively. Patients with adenocarcinomas had a median survival of 12.4 months and those with squamous cell carcinomas had a median survival of 9.3 months. Smokers, former smokers, and never-smokers had median survival times of 9.0, 11.1 and 14.6 months, respectively. Outcome was better for Asians (n=121) compared to Caucasians (n=946) (median 19.5 versus 9.6 months). Age <65 and age ≥65 did not indicate prognosis. Multivariate analysis confirmed the prognostic significance of performance status, gender, smoking status, region (Europe versus Australasia), and histology. Conclusions: The FLEX trial confirmed several prognostic factors, including gender, performance status, histological subtype, ethnicity, and smoking status for patients with advanced NSCLC.

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Addition of the neurokinin 1 receptor antagonist aprepitant to standard antiemetic therapy improves control of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. Results from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in Latin America

BACKGROUND

Aprepitant is a novel neurokinin 1 (NK(1)) antagonist that has been shown to improve control of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) when added to a standard antiemetic regimen of a 5-hydroxytriptamine-3 antagonist plus a corticosteroid. The authors sought to evaluate further the efficacy and tolerability of aprepitant plus standard therapy in a large clinical trial.

METHODS

This was a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-groups, Phase III study. Patients with cancer who were scheduled to receive treatment with high-dose cisplatin chemotherapy were randomized to receive 1 of 2 treatment regimens; the standard therapy group received intravenous ondansetron 32 mg and oral dexamethasone 20 mg on Day 1, and oral dexamethasone 8 mg twice daily on Days 2-4. The aprepitant group received oral aprepitant 125 mg, intravenous ondansetron 32 mg, and oral dexamethasone 12 mg on Day 1; oral aprepitant 80 mg and oral dexamethasone 8 mg once daily on Days 2-3; and oral dexamethasone 8 mg on Day 4. Patients recorded episodes of emesis, use of rescue therapy, and severity of nausea in a diary. A modified intent-to-treat approach was used to analyze the efficacy data. The primary endpoint was complete response (no emesis and no rescue therapy) during the 5-day period postcisplatin. Treatment comparisons were made using logistic regression models, and reported adverse events and physical and laboratory assessments were used to assess tolerability.

RESULTS

A total of 523 patients were evaluated for efficacy, and 568 patients were evaluated for safety. During the 5 days after chemotherapy, the percentages of patients who achieved a complete response were 62.7% in the aprepitant group (163 of 260 patients) versus 43.3% in the standard therapy group (114 of 263 patients; P < 0.001). For Day 1, the complete response rates were 82.8% for the aprepitant group and 68.4% for the standard therapy group (P < 0.001); for Days 2-5, the complete response rates were 67.7% in the aprepitant group and 46.8% in the standard therapy group (P < 0.001). The overall incidence of adverse events was similar between the 2 treatment groups (72.8% in the aprepitant group [206 of 283 patients] and 72.6% in the standard therapy group [207 of 285 patients]) as were rates of serious adverse events, discontinuations due to adverse events, and deaths.

CONCLUSIONS

In patients with cancer who are receiving high-dose cisplatin-based chemotherapy, therapy consisting of aprepitant (125 mg on Day 1 and 80 mg on Days 2-3) plus a standard regimen of ondansetron and dexamethasone provided superior antiemetic protection compared with standard therapy alone and was generally well tolerated.