Publication
Title
Comparative analysis of the phase III clinical trials of anti-PD1 monotherapy in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients (CheckMate 141 and KEYNOTE 040)
Author
Abstract
Two phase III clinical trials (CheckMate 141 and KEYNOTE 040) have independently demonstrated that overall survival (OS) in recurrent and/or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (R/M HNSCC) patients, who have failed platinum-based therapy, can be improved with anti-PD1 monotherapy. Treatment with nivolumab or pembrolizumab in R/M HNSCC patients led to an improved OS with a hazards ratio (HR) of 0.70 (95%CI 0.51-0.96; p=0.01) and HR of 0.80 (95%CI 0.65-0.98, p=0.0161), respectively, as compared to standard of care (SOC) chemo monotherapy regimens (specifically, cetuximab, docetaxel, or methotrexate). The gain in OS was similar in both studies, underscoring the role of anti-PD1 drugs in R/M HNSCC patients. One of the striking discrepancies between CheckMate 141 and KEYNOTE 040 was the OS observed in the control SOC arms (6.9months median in KEYNOTE 040 versus 5.1months in CheckMate 141), which inadvertently set a higher threshold in the bio-statistical analysis of KEYNOTE 040 so that the clinical outcome of every patient was influential in the analysis. We perform a comparative analysis of the two studies to identify potential factors in the control arm that can impact clinical trial bio-statistical outcomes and which may have implications for future immunotherapy clinical trial designs.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer
Publication
2019
ISSN
2051-1426
DOI
10.1186/S40425-019-0578-0
Volume/pages
7 (2019) , 4 p.
Article Reference
96
ISI
000463769400004
Pubmed ID
30944020
Medium
E-only publicatie
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
UAntwerpen
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 02.05.2019
Last edited 02.10.2024
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