Lack of Benefit Seen for Indefinite- Duration Immunotherapy in Advanced NSCLC

For patients with advanced NSCLC, indefinite duration of immunotherapy treatment does not seem to offer benefits over fixed-duration therapy for 2 years, according to a study published in JAMA Oncology to coincide with the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting, held recently in Chicago. Lova Sun, MD, and colleagues conducted a retrospective, population-based cohort study involving adults with an advanced NSCLC diagnosis from 2016 to 2020 who received frontline immunotherapy-based treatment. Practice patterns surrounding treatment discontinuation at 2 years (700-760 days; fixed duration) versus continued treatment beyond 2 years (>760 days; indefinite duration) were compared. Of 1,091 patients who were still on immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment at 2 years, 113 and 593 were in the fixed-duration and indefinite-duration groups, respectively. The 2-year overall survival from 760 days was 79% and 81% in the fixed-duration and indefinite-duration groups, respectively. No significant difference was seen in overall survival for patients in the fixed-duration or indefinite-duration groups in a univariate or multivariable analysis. In the absence of progression, about one in five patients discontinued treatment at 2 years.