Highlights
- •Durvalumab monotherapy was safe in previously treated recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.
- •Durable antitumour responses were observed, similar to other tumour cohorts.
- •Objective response rate and disease control rate were greater in patients with ≥25% vs <25% tumoural PD-L1 expression.
Abstract
Introduction
Durvalumab selectively blocks programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) binding to programmed
cell death-1. Encouraging clinical activity and manageable safety were reported in
urothelial carcinoma, non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), hepatocellular carcinoma
(HC) and small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) in a multicenter phase I/II study. Safety and
clinical activity in recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC)
were evaluated in the expansion phase.
Methods
Patients received 10 mg/kg of durvalumab intravenously every 2 weeks for 12 months
or until confirmed progressive disease or unacceptable toxicity. The primary objective
was safety; clinical activity was a secondary objective.
Results
Sixty-two patients were enrolled and evaluable (received first dose ≥24 weeks before
data cutoff). Median age was 57 years; 40.3% were human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive;
32.3% had tumour cell PD-L1 expression ≥25%, and 62.9% were current/former smokers.
They had a median of 2 prior systemic treatments (range, 1–13). All-causality adverse
events (AEs) occurred in 98.4%; drug-related AEs occurred in 59.7% and were grade
III–IV in 9.7%. There were no drug-related discontinuations or deaths. Objective response
rate (blinded independent central review) was 6.5% (15.0% for PD-L1 ≥25%, 2.6% for
<25%). Median time to response was 2.7 months (range, 1.2–5.5); median duration was
12.4 months (range, 3.5–20.5+). Median progression-free survival was 1.4 months; median
overall survival (OS) was 8.4 months. OS rate was 62% at 6 months and 38% at 12 months
(42% for PD-L1 ≥25%, 36% for <25%).
Conclusions
Durvalumab safety in HNSCC was manageable and consistent with other cohorts of the
study. Early, durable responses in these heavily pretreated patients warrant further
investigation; phase III monotherapy and combination therapy studies are ongoing.
Clinical trial registry
clinicaltrials.gov NCT01693562; MedImmune study 1108.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: February 04, 2019
Accepted:
December 26,
2018
Received in revised form:
November 30,
2018
Received:
September 11,
2018
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
