Health-related quality of life with first-line sintilimab plus chemotherapy for advanced ESCC in the multinational phase 3 ORIENT-15 study

In the multinational phase 3 ORIENT-15 study, sintilimab plus chemotherapy demonstrated significant improvement of progression-free and overall survival versus placebo plus chemotherapy in first-line treatment of advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (aESCC). Health-related quality of life results of the trial have now been published. The results favored sintilimab over placebo for QLQ-C30 social functioning, pain, fatigue, constipation, QLQ-OES18 pain, trouble swallowing saliva, and choked when swallowing. The time to first onset of deterioration favored sintilimab over placebo for QLQ-OES18 dysphagia and trouble swallowing saliva. Improved overall survival was observed in patients with better performance in several functioning and symptom scales of QLQ-C30 and QLQ-QES18. The authors conclude that these results further support the use of first-line sintilimab plus chemotherapy for aESCC.