pembrolizumab in patients with recurrent or metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma cscc the phase ii keynote 629 study

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Pembrolizumab for recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC): Post hoc analyses of treatment options from the phase III KEYNOTE-040 trial

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The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer consensus statement on immunotherapy for the treatment of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC)

Head and neck cancers, including those of the lip and oral cavity, nasal cavity, paranasal sinuses, oropharynx, larynx and nasopharynx represent nearly 700,000 new cases and 380,000 deaths worldwide per annum, and account for over 10,000 annual deaths in the United States alone. Improvement in outcomes are needed for patients with recurrent and or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC). In 2016, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted the first immunotherapeutic approvals - the anti-PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitors nivolumab and pembrolizumab - for the treatment of patients with recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC) that is refractory to platinum-based regimens. The European Commission followed in 2017 with approval of nivolumab for treatment of the same patient population, and shortly thereafter with approval of pembrolizumab monotherapy for the treatment of recurrent or metastatic HNSCC in adults whose tumors express PD-L1 with a 65 50% tumor proportion score and have progressed on or after platinum-containing chemotherapy. Then in 2019, the FDA granted approval for PD-1 inhibition as first-line treatment for patients with metastatic or unresectable, recurrent HNSCC, approving pembrolizumab in combination with platinum and fluorouracil for all patients with HNSCC and pembrolizumab as a single agent for patients with HNSCC whose tumors express a PD-L1 combined positive score 65 1. These approvals marked the first new therapies for these patients since 2006, as well as the first immunotherapeutic approvals in this disease. In light of the introduction of these novel therapies for the treatment of patients with head and neck cancer, The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) formed an expert committee tasked with generating consensus recommendations for emerging immunotherapies, including appropriate patient selection, therapy sequence, response monitoring, adverse event management, and biomarker testing. These consensus guidelines serve as a foundation to assist clinicians' understanding of the role of immunotherapies in this disease setting, and to standardize utilization across the field for patient benefit. Due to country-specific variances in approvals, availability and regulations regarding the discussed agents, this panel focused solely on FDA-approved drugs for the treatment of patients in the U.S

An open-label single-arm, phase II trial of zalutumumab, a human monoclonal anti-EGFR antibody, in patients with platinum-refractory squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck

Purpose: Treatment options for patients with platinum-refractory recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (R/M SCCHN) are limited. The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of zalutumumab in platinum-refractory R/M SCCHN. Methods: Patients with platinum-refractory R/M SCCHN were enrolled if they had performance status of 0-2, age 6518 years and adequate organ function. Patients received weekly infusions of zalutumumab individually titrated to a grade 2 skin rash. Primary objective was overall survival (OS), and secondary objectives were efficacy and safety. A subgroup analysis of OS and progression-free survival (PFS) was conducted for various demographic, disease-related and molecular factors. Results: Ninety patients were enrolled. Twenty-three percent of patients had performance status (PS) 2 and 74 % had distant metastases. Median OS was 5.3 months (95 % CI [4.1, 7.1]), and median PFS was 2.1 months (95 % CI [2.0, 2.6]). Subgroup analysis by ECOG PS revealed median OS of 6.3 months for PS = 0-1 and 2.5 months for PS = 2. Objective response rate was 5.7 %, and disease control rate was 39.8 %. Grade 3-4 adverse events related to zalutumumab were observed in 19 % of patients and included skin rash (5 %), hypomagnesemia (4 %) and pneumonitis (1 %). The frequency of all-cause grade 3-4 AEs was 62 % and included infections (14 %), gastrointestinal disorders (12 %) and hypokalemia (6 %). Two deaths were deemed related to zalutumumab [ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00542308]. Conclusions: Zalutumumab showed reasonable efficacy in platinum-refractory R/M SCCHN patients, and dose titration based on skin rash evaluation was feasible

Comparing programmed death ligand 1 scores for predicting pembrolizumab efficacy in head and neck cancer

Tumor proportion score (TPS) and combined positive score ([CPS] includes immune cells), 2 methods for scoring programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression, have been used in clinical trials investigating the immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). These trials resulted in regulatory approval for pembrolizumab in the first- and second-line setting outside the United States. We performed a post hoc analysis of the KEYNOTE-040 study (NCT02252042) to determine whether CPS is a practical and suitable alternative scoring method to TPS. In KEYNOTE-040, patients with metastatic HNSCC received pembrolizumab or investigator choice of standard of care (SOC). The relative utility and equivalence of CPS\u2009 65\u200950 and TPS\u2009 65\u200950% for defining PD-L1 expression status in patients with HNSCC and comparability of scoring methods by tandem receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis were analyzed. The cutoff for each method was also evaluated. CPS\u2009 65\u200950 appeared equivalent to TPS\u2009 65\u200950% for predicting objective response rate (ORR), overall survival, and progression-free survival. ORR for pembrolizumab versus SOC was 26.2 versus 8.5% for TPS\u2009 65\u200950%, 28.1 versus 7.7% for CPS\u2009 65\u200950, 10.6 versus 11.6% for TPS\u2009<\u200950%, and 10.0 versus 12.0% for CPS\u2009<\u200950. Tandem ROC analysis showed that TPS 50% and CPS 50 maximized delta Youden index and suggested that CPS is more sensitive than TPS at lower cutoffs (i.e., CPS\u2009 65\u20091). In conclusion, CPS 50 can be used interchangeably with TPS 50% to determine PD-L1 status in patients with HNSCC. CPS may be more sensitive than TPS at lower cutoffs

Quality of Life With Pembrolizumab for Recurrent/Metastatic Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma: KEYNOTE-040

BACKGROUND: Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) affects health-related quality of life (HRQoL); few treatments have demonstrated clinically meaningful HRQoL benefit. KEYNOTE-040 evaluated pembrolizumab versus standard of care (SOC) in patients with recurrent/metastatic (R/M) HNSCC whose disease recurred/progressed after platinum-containing regimen. METHODS: Patients received pembrolizumab 200\u2009mg or SOC (methotrexate, docetaxel, or cetuximab). Exploratory HRQoL analyses used European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) 30 quality-of-life, EORTC 35-question quality-of-life head and neck cancer-specific module, and EuroQoL 5-dimensions questionnaires. RESULTS: HRQoL population comprised 469 patients (pembrolizumab=241, SOC=228). HRQoL compliance for patients on study at week 15 was 75.3% (116/154) for pembrolizumab and 74.6% (85/114) for SOC. Median time to deterioration in global health status (GHS)/QoL score was 4.8 months and 2.8 months, respectively (HR, 0.79; 95% CI: 0.59, 1.05). At week 15, GHS/QoL scores were stable for pembrolizumab (least squares mean [LSM], 0.39; 95% CI: -3.00, 3.78) but worsened for SOC (LSM, -5.86; 95% CI: -9.68, -2.04); LSM between-group difference was 6.25 points (95% CI: 1.32, 11.18; nominal 2-sided P=.01). Greater difference in LSM score for GHS/QoL occurred with pembrolizumab versus docetaxel (10.23; 95% CI: 3.15, 17.30) compared with pembrolizumab versus methotrexate (6.21; 95% CI: -4.57, 16.99) or pembrolizumab versus cetuximab (-1.44; 95% CI: -11.43, 8.56). Pembrolizumab-treated patients had stable functioning and symptoms at week 15, with no notable differences from SOC. CONCLUSIONS: GHS/QoL was stable with pembrolizumab but declined with SOC in patients at week 15, supporting the clinically meaningful benefit of pembrolizumab in R/M HNSCC

Afatinib as second-line treatment in patients with recurrent/metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck : subgroup analyses of treatment adherence, safety and mode of afatinib administration in the LUX-Head and Neck 1 trial

Objectives: Patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) can experience severe symptom burden and/or difficulty swallowing, leading to problems with treatment adherence/administration. In LUX-Head and Neck 1 (LH&N1; NCT01345682), second-line afatinib improved progression-free survival (PFS) versus methotrexate in patients with recurrent/metastatic HNSCC. We report adherence and safety across pre-specified and additional subgroups potentially linked to afatinib PFS benefit in LH&N1 (p16 status, smoking history), and afatinib adherence, safety and efficacy by administration (oral versus feeding tube; post-hoc analysis). Methods: Patients were randomized (2:1) to afatinib (40 mg/day) or intravenous methotrexate (40 mg/m2/week). Results: Among 320 afatinib-treated and 160 methotrexate-treated patients, 83\u201392% and 76\u201392% (of patients with data available) across all subgroups took 6580% of treatment. Across p16 status and smoking history subgroups, the most common treatment-related adverse events (AEs) were diarrhea (70\u201391%), rash/acne (72\u201384%), stomatitis (34\u201373%) with afatinib; and included stomatitis (39\u2013100%), fatigue (22\u201350%), nausea (19\u201336%) with methotrexate. Dose reduction decreased AE incidence/severity. Baseline characteristics were generally similar between oral/feeding tube (n = 276/n = 46) groups. 89%/89% (of patients with data available) took 6580% of assigned afatinib. Median PFS was 2.6 versus 2.7 months (hazard ratio: 0.997; 95% confidence interval: 0.72\u20131.38). The most common afatinib-related AEs were: rash/acne (74% versus 74%), diarrhea (73% versus 65%), stomatitis (40% versus 30%). Conclusion: Subgroup analyses of LH&N1 demonstrate that afatinib has predictable and manageable safety across patient subgroups, with high treatment adherence, and is effective via oral and feeding tube administration