Retrospective study of carboplatin,weekly paclitaxel and pembolizumab in elderly patients with aNSCLC with PD-L1 < 50%

A retrospective study at the University of Rouen (France) compared carboplatin plus weekly paclitaxel plus pembrolizumab (CwPP) versus carboplatin plus weekly paclitaxel alone (CwP) in elderly patients (aged 70 years or older) with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (aNSCLC) with PD-L1 expression < 50%). Response rate was 47% with CwPP and 23% with CwP (p<0.001). Progression-free survival was 7.4 months with CwPP and 3.4 months with CwP (p<0.001). Overall survival was 12.5 months with CwPP and 5.9 months with CwP (p=0.003). There were no grade 5 treatment-related adverse events; the incidence of grade 3 or 4 TRAEs was numerically but not statistically significant higher with CwPP than with CwP (28% versus 19%; p=0.12). The authors conclude that among elderly patients with aNSCLC with PD-L1 < 50%, addition of pembrolizumab to carboplatin and weekly paclitaxel was feasible and resulted in substantially improved response rate and survival outcomes.