Over the past decade, the approval of immune checkpoint inhibitors has revolutionized treatment for patients with advanced lung cancer, helping many live longer lives and improving overall survival for the disease. However, an important question has remained unanswered: How long should a patient with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), who receives immunotherapy as part of their initial treatment, continue with treatment?
A new retrospective cohort study, published in JAMA Oncology and presented at the 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting (Abstract 9101) by researchers from Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center, suggests that it’s reasonable to stop immunotherapy treatment at two years as long as their cancer hasn’t progressed. The researchers found no statistically significant difference in overall survival between patients who stopped treatment at two years and those who continued treatment indefinitely.
In this study, the researchers analyzed de-identified data from a national electronic health record that included patients with advanced NSCLC who were treated in both academic and community settings. Of the 1,091 patients who received an immune checkpoint inhibitor as part of their initial therapy (either alone or in combination with chemotherapy) and whose cancer had not continued to grow, only one in five stopped immunotherapy at two years and were considered the “fixed duration” group for this analysis. The vast majority who continued treatment beyond two years were considered the “indefinite duration” group.
The team analyzed the data and found similar overall survival probabilities between the two groups: 79% for fixed duration and 81% for indefinite duration.
