Durvalumab plus platinum–etoposide versus platinum–etoposide in first-line treatment of extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer (CASPIAN): a randomised, controlled, open-label, phase 3 trial

Luis Paz-Ares*, Mikhail Dvorkin, CASPIAN investigators, Yuanbin Chen, Katsuyuki Hotta, Dmytro Trukhin, Galina Statsenko, Maximilian J. Hochmair, Mustafa Özgüroğlu, Jun Ho Ji, Oleksandr Voitko, Artem Poltoratskiy, Santiago Ponce, Francesco Verderame, Libor Havel, Igor Bondarenko, Andrzej Kazarnowicz, György Losonczy, Nikolay V. Conev, Jon ArmstrongNatalie Byrne, Norah Shire, Haiyi Jiang, Jonathan W. Goldman, Wei Li, Robin Cornelissen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

1436 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background: Most patients with small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) have extensive-stage disease at presentation, and prognosis remains poor. Recently, immunotherapy has demonstrated clinical activity in extensive-stage SCLC (ES-SCLC). The CASPIAN trial assessed durvalumab, with or without tremelimumab, in combination with etoposide plus either cisplatin or carboplatin (platinum–etoposide) in treatment-naive patients with ES-SCLC. Methods: This randomised, open-label, phase 3 trial was done at 209 sites across 23 countries. Eligible patients were adults with untreated ES-SCLC, with WHO performance status 0 or 1 and measurable disease as per Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors, version 1.1. Patients were randomly assigned (in a 1:1:1 ratio) to durvalumab plus platinum–etoposide; durvalumab plus tremelimumab plus platinum–etoposide; or platinum–etoposide alone. All drugs were administered intravenously. Platinum–etoposide consisted of etoposide 80–100 mg/m2 on days 1–3 of each cycle with investigator's choice of either carboplatin area under the curve 5–6 mg/mL per min or cisplatin 75–80 mg/m2 (administered on day 1 of each cycle). Patients received up to four cycles of platinum–etoposide plus durvalumab 1500 mg with or without tremelimumab 75 mg every 3 weeks followed by maintenance durvalumab 1500 mg every 4 weeks in the immunotherapy groups and up to six cycles of platinum–etoposide every 3 weeks plus prophylactic cranial irradiation (investigator's discretion) in the platinum–etoposide group. The primary endpoint was overall survival in the intention-to-treat population. We report results for the durvalumab plus platinum–etoposide group versus the platinum–etoposide group from a planned interim analysis. Safety was assessed in all patients who received at least one dose of their assigned study treatment. This study is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03043872, and is ongoing. Findings: Patients were enrolled between March 27, 2017, and May 29, 2018. 268 patients were allocated to the durvalumab plus platinum–etoposide group and 269 to the platinum–etoposide group. Durvalumab plus platinum–etoposide was associated with a significant improvement in overall survival, with a hazard ratio of 0·73 (95% CI 0·59–0·91; p=0·0047]); median overall survival was 13·0 months (95% CI 11·5–14·8) in the durvalumab plus platinum–etoposide group versus 10·3 months (9·3–11·2) in the platinum–etoposide group, with 34% (26·9–41·0) versus 25% (18·4–31·6) of patients alive at 18 months. Any-cause adverse events of grade 3 or 4 occurred in 163 (62%) of 265 treated patients in the durvalumab plus platinum–etoposide group and 166 (62%) of 266 in the platinum–etoposide group; adverse events leading to death occurred in 13 (5%) and 15 (6%) patients. Interpretation: First-line durvalumab plus platinum–etoposide significantly improved overall survival in patients with ES-SCLC versus a clinically relevant control group. Safety findings were consistent with the known safety profiles of all drugs received. Funding: AstraZeneca.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1929-1939
Number of pages11
JournalThe Lancet
Volume394
Issue number10212
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 23 Nov 2019

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Data underlying the findings described in this manuscript may be obtained in accordance with AstraZeneca's data sharing policy . Acknowledgments The study was funded by AstraZeneca. The authors would like to thank the patients, their families and caregivers, and all investigators involved in this study, Alan Hatfield, formerly of AstraZeneca, and all members of the independent data monitoring committee for their contributions to the study. Medical writing support, which was in accordance with good publication practice guidelines, was provided by Craig Turner and Samantha Holmes, of Cirrus Communications (Macclesfield, UK), an Ashfield company, and was funded by AstraZeneca.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Durvalumab plus platinum–etoposide versus platinum–etoposide in first-line treatment of extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer (CASPIAN): a randomised, controlled, open-label, phase 3 trial'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this