Capecitabine maintenance therapy after induction chemotherapy for newly diagnosed mNPC

A phase 3 study at Sun Yat-sen University (Guangzhou, China) evaluated addition of capecitabine maintenance therapy to best supportive care after induction chemotherapy for newly diagnosed metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The median PFS was 35.2 months in the capecitabine group versus 9.1 months in the BSC group (HR 0.426; p=0.001). The most common grade 3 or 4 adverse events during maintenance therapy were hand-foot syndrome (10% of patients), nausea/vomiting (6%), fatigue (4%), and mucositis (4%). During median 33.1 months follow-up 26.9% of patients in the capecitabine group and 44.2% of patients in the BSC group died. No deaths in the capecitabine group were deemed treatment-related.