Health-Related Quality of Life With Cemiplimab for Skin Cancer
Posted: Wednesday, July 15, 2020
According to the results of a phase II clinical trial presented during the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program (Abstract 10033), treatment with cemiplimab may lead to improvements in health-related quality of life for patients with advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma. Treatment with the PD-1 inhibitor resulted in a “clinically meaningful” reduction in pain for patients and improved or maintained function with a low symptom burden, concluded Michael Robert Migden, MD, of the MD Anderson Cancer Center at The University of Texas, Houston, and colleagues.
The authors enrolled 193 patients with invasive cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma who had more than one lesion and an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of at least 1. Patients with metastatic and locally advanced disease (59 and 78 patients, respectively) were treated with 3 mg/kg of cemiplimab every 2 weeks, and 56 patients with metastatic disease received 350 mg of cemiplimab every 3 weeks.
Baseline scores for all patients indicated moderate to high levels of functioning and a low symptom burden. From baseline to cycle 5, the authors observed an improvement in pain. By cycle 5, the majority of patients had experienced clinically meaningful improvement or were stable across key domains. In addition, similar outcomes were noted in each treatment group for individual symptoms (85% to 94% for dyspnea, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, and appetite loss).
Disclosure: For full disclosures of the study authors, visit coi.asco.org.
