ESMO 2018: Evaluating Response to Avelumab in Metastatic Merkel Cell Carcinoma
Posted: Monday, November 12, 2018
At the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2018 Congress in Munich, Sandra P. D’Angelo, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, presented data on the similarity of clinical and patient-reported outcomes among patients with metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma treated with the anti–PD-L1 antibody avelumab (Abstract 1282P). These findings confirm the potential association of both outcome measures in this patient population.
Patient-reported outcomes were assessed at baseline, at week 7, and thereafter every 6 weeks until disease progression or at the end of treatment. In total, 88 patients were followed for a minimum of 24 months (median, 29.2 months). Patients were categorized as meaningfully improved/stable or as meaningfully worsened.
Both the clinical and various patient-reported outcomes endpoints revealed similar findings: better outcomes at 6 months with poorer outcomes out to 24 months. The clinical endpoint was progression-free survival rate, which was 40% at 6 months, 29% at 12 months, 29% at 18 months, and 26% at 24 months. One representative patient-reported outcome—Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–Melanoma—was associated with health-related quality-of-life deterioration-free survival of 45% at 6 months, 40% at 12 months, 36% at 18 months, and 32% at 24 months. Furthermore, “the patient-reported outcomes–based 2-year rates of improved/stable endpoints tended to be higher than the best overall response rate of 33%....”
