First-line osimertinib treatment was safe and effective for a cohort of patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mutated advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who were treated during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study published in Translational Lung Cancer Research.
Previously, the FLAURA trial demonstrated that osimertinib yielded improved overall survival (OS) in patients with EGFR-mutated advanced NSCLC. In this study, researchers evaluated the safety and efficacy of osimertinib in patients who were treated during the COVID-19 pandemic. They retrospectively assessed 231 individuals with EGFR-mutated advanced NSCLC who received first-line osimertinib. Kaplan-Meier curves of OS and progression-free survival from the start of osimertinib treatment were used to analyze the findings.
Researchers observed an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of ≥2 at treatment initiation in approximately half of patients who received first-line osimertinib during the COVID-19 pandemic. That finding correlated to a median OS shorter than the OS observed in the FLAURA study. “The incidence of severe adverse events was low, and dose reduction for drug toxicity did not impact OS. Identifying and reducing barriers to the diagnosis of NSCLC during the COVID-19 pandemic [is] required,” the researchers concluded.
