Front-Line Immunotherapy for Small-Cell Lung Cancer

The standard front-line treatment for extensive-stage, small-cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC) has changed to add the PD-L1 inhibitor atezolizumab to platinum-etoposide chemotherapy (NEJM JW Oncol Hematol Dec 2018 and N Engl J Med 2018; 379:2220).

Now, investigators have reported planned interim results of an industry-funded, international, randomized, controlled, open-label, phase III trial (CASPIAN) that evaluated platinum-etoposide chemotherapy with or without the PD-L1 inhibitor durvalumab in 537 chemotherapy-naive ES-SCLC patients.

At a median follow-up of 14.2 months, results were as follows:

• Overall survival (the primary endpoint) was significantly improved with durvalumab plus chemotherapy versus chemotherapy alone (median 13.0 vs. 10.3 month…