Concomitant botanical medicine use among patients participating in commercial prostate cancer trials

OBJECTIVES

Patients with cancer frequently use botanical medications. The concomitant use of such medications by patients on commercial trials has not been well-described, despite the importance of these trials for evaluating the safety and efficacy of new agents. We sought to describe the use of botanical medications taken by patients with prostate cancer enrolled on global commercial trials.

DESIGN

Retrospective study.

SETTING

Regulatory repository of commercial clinical trial data.

INTERVENTIONS

Anti-cancer therapy.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Botanical and medication use data were pooled across six international commercial randomized trials for metastatic prostate cancer with detailed information on medication and indications. Botanical products were considered to have potential for drug interaction if they led to a change in drug exposure in human trials. Potential for interaction was ascertained by PubMed review. Descriptive statistics were used for analysis.

RESULTS

Of 7318 enrolled patients, 700 (10 %) reported botanical use at any time and 653 (9%) reported use of botanical products while on trial. Nearly half of botanical product types were not classified by plant (43 %). The highest proportion of botanical use was among patients in Asian countries (32 %), followed by patients in North America (13 %). Eighty-six different types of botanical products were used; of these, nineteen had a patient-reported anti-cancer indication.

CONCLUSIONS

Botanical medicine use among patients with prostate cancer in commercial trials is moderate, although it varies by region. Practitioners should be aware of the use of botanical interventions in a clinical trial context.

Analysis of time-to-treatment discontinuation of targeted therapy, immunotherapy, and chemotherapy in clinical trials of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer

BACKGROUND

Pragmatic end points, such as time-to-treatment discontinuation (TTD), defined as the date of starting a medication to the date of treatment discontinuation or death has been proposed as a potential efficacy end point for real-world evidence (RWE) trials, where imaging evaluation is less structured and standardized.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

We studied 18 randomized clinical trials of patients with metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (mNSCLC), initiated after 2007 and submitted to U.S. Food and Drug Administration. TTD was calculated as date of randomization to date of discontinuation or death and compared to progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) across all patients, as well as in treatment-defined subgroups [EGFR mutation-positive treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), EGFR wild-type treated with TKI, ALK-positive treated with TKI, immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI), chemotherapy doublet with maintenance, chemotherapy monotherapy].

RESULTS

Overall across 8947 patients, TTD was more closely associated with PFS (r = 0.87, 95% CI 0.86-0.87) than with OS (0.68, 95% CI 0.67-0.69). Early TTD (PFS-TTD ≥ 3 months) occurred in 7.7% of patients overall, and was more common with chemo monotherapy (15.0%) while late TTD (TTD-PFS ≥ 3 months) occurred in 6.0% of patients overall, and was more common in EGFR-positive and ALK-positive patients (12.4% and 22.9%). In oncogene-targeted subgroups (EGFR positive and ALK positive), median TTDs (13.4 and 14.1 months) exceeded median PFS (11.4 and 11.3 months).

CONCLUSIONS

At the patient level, TTD is associated with PFS across therapeutic classes. Median TTD exceeds median PFS for biomarker-selected patients receiving oncogene-targeted therapies. TTD should be prospectively studied further as an end point for pragmatic randomized RWE trials only for continuously administered therapies.

Age-related differences in patient-reported outcomes in patients with advanced lung cancer receiving anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy

BACKGROUND

Older adults with lung cancer often have comorbidities that may increase risk of symptomatic adverse events (AEs) and physical function decline. The objective of this study was to examine age-related differences in patient-reported symptoms and functional domains in patients with advanced lung cancer receiving immunotherapy drugs.

METHODS

Three randomized controlled trials of anti-programmed death receptor-1/programmed death-ligand 1 therapy in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer that included patient-reported outcomes (PROs) were identified. Baseline PRO data were pooled for treatment arms from 2 trials that included the same PRO tools. Age-related differences in baseline mean scores for each of the health-related quality of life functional and symptom scales were assessed for patients ≥70 years and <70 years. Mean change from Baseline at 3 months was also calculated and plotted for each age group. The adequacy of PRO assessments was assessed by comparing clinician-reported AE data in the 3 trials to the item content of the PRO tools included.

RESULTS

Across the 3 trials, 75 of patients were under 70 and 26% patients were 70 and older. Comparing baseline scores in the 2 trials with the same PRO tool, older adults reported small differences including lower physical functioning, less pain, insomnia and financial difficulties, and higher social functioning than younger patients at baseline. No large differences in the distributions of mean change from baseline in function or symptom were identified. Several common clinician-reported symptomatic AEs were not assessed by the PRO strategy employed in the 3 trials. Three clinician-reported symptomatic AEs (rash, fever, and pruritus) that were commonly reported in the safety data (9%-19%) were not assessed using the PRO tools employed.

CONCLUSION

While several small differences were seen, there did not appear to be large differences at baseline or in the distributions of change from baseline in PRO functional domains between younger and older patients with lung cancer undergoing anti-programmed death receptor -1/programmed death-ligand 1 therapy. Relevant symptomatic side effects were not assessed by PRO measures in these trials, and this is a limitation of current PRO assessment strategies.

Phase II trial of bevacizumab (A), lenalidomide (R), docetaxel (D), and prednisone (P) in patients (pts) with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC)

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Background: Angiogenesis appears to play critical role in the progression of mCRPC. Previously we have shown anti-tumor activity in mCRPC with the combination of D, thalidomide (T), A and P (Ning JCO 2010). We hypothesized that combining R, an analogue of T, with A, D and P would have a more favorable toxicity profile and similar anti-tumor activity.

Methods: All pts had chemotherapy-naïve progressive mCRPC. 6 pts were treated with R at 15 and 20 mg prior to doses at 25 mg. Treatment is 75 mg/m2 D, 15 mg/kg A every 21 days as one cycle (C), plus 25 mg R for 14 days with daily 10 mg P and enoxaparin. After grade 3 neutropenia was seen in > 80% of pts in all cohorts, the protocol was amended to include prophylactic pegfilgrastim. PSA is tested each C with imaging after C2 and then every 3C. Dental exams with mandible CT's are at baseline, after C5, and then every 6C or earlier if needed.

Results: 28 of a planned 51 pts have been enrolled. Pt characteristics include: median age 65.5 [51-78], Gleason score 8 [67.9% 8-10, 32.1% 6-7], on-study PSA 94.3 ng/mL [9.2-3520], and pre-study PSA doubling time 1.43 months [0.52-4.07]. Median C number was 8 [1-21]. 2/28 pts were off study due to clinical or radiographic progression. 26 pts remain on study. 22/24 (91.7%) and 20/24 (83.3%) pts who have completed ≥ 4C had PSA- decline of ≥ 50% and ≥ 75%, respectively. 14 pts with measurable disease were evaluable with 2 CRs (1 unconfirmed), 9 PRs (2 unconfirmed), and 3 SDs (a 78.6% overall RR). Grade ≥ 3 toxicities include neutropenia (16/28), anemia (6/28), thrombocytopenia (3/28), hypertension (1/28), and infection (2/28). 1/28 pts had febrile neutropenia. 8/28 pts (28.6%) developed grade 2 osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ), defined as bone death on dental exam, higher than 18.3% as reported by Ning. 5/8 had concomitant and 2/8 pts had history of bisphosphonate use.

Conclusions: Combined therapy with anti-angiogenic agents R and A, plus D and P is associated with high response rates, 91.7% in PSA and 78.6% in measurable disease in mCRPC pts, with manageable toxicities. Further study is underway to characterize the activity and to explore the high incidence of ONJ, including the possibility of ascertainment bias.

No significant financial relationships to disclose.