Cemiplimab + Chemotherapy Aids Quality of Life With Lung Cancer

WEDNESDAY, May 10, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Cemiplimab plus chemotherapy results in significant overall improvement in pain symptoms and delayed deterioration in cancer-related and lung cancer-specific symptoms and functions, according to a study published online May 8 in Cancer.

Tamta Makharadze, M.D., from LTD High Technology Hospital Med Center in Batumi, Georgia, and colleagues evaluated patient-reported outcomes from the EMPOWER-Lung 3 phase 3 trial. The analysis included 312 patients assigned to cemiplimab plus platinum-doublet chemotherapy and 154 receiving placebo plus chemotherapy as first-line treatment for advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

The researchers found that for pain symptoms, there was a statistically significant overall improvement from baseline and significant delay in time to definitive clinically meaningful deterioration (TTD; hazard ratio, 0.39; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.26 to 0.60; P < 0.0001) favoring cemiplimab plus chemotherapy. For functioning and symptom scales, there were also statistically significant delays seen in TTD, all favoring cemiplimab plus chemotherapy. From baseline, there was a significant overall improvement observed in global health status/quality of life with cemiplimab plus chemotherapy versus a nonsignificant overall change from baseline for placebo plus chemotherapy (hazard ratios [95 percent confidence intervals], 1.69 [0.20 to 3.19] versus 1.08 [−1.34 to 3.51]; between arms, P = 0.673).

"We show that the favorable efficacy achieved with cemiplimab plus chemotherapy over placebo plus chemotherapy is accompanied by significant overall improvement in pain and significant delay in TTD in multiple patient-reported cancer-related and lung cancer-specific functions and symptoms," the authors write.

Several authors disclosed financial ties to Regeneron, which manufactures cemiplimab and funded the study.

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