Multicenter retrospective study of durvalumab restart after moderate symptomatic pneumonitis in locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer

A retrospective study in seven centers in Japan evaluated durvalumab consolidation restart after interruption due to grade 2 pneumonitis in locally advanced non-small lung cancer (LA NSCLC) patients. Participants in the durvalumab re-administration group had significantly longer progression-free survival (32.0 months versus 5.3 months; p=0.003) and overall survival (not reached versus 27.1 months; p=0.012) compared with participants in the durvalumab non-re-administration group. Pneumonitis recurred in 30.3% of the re-administration group, without grade ≥ 3 events. Multivariate analysis identified durvalumab re-administration as independent predictor of PFS (HR 0.31; p=0.002) and OS (HR 0.33; p=0.017). The authors conclude that durvalumab re-administration after grade 2 pneumonitis was associated with prolonged survival.