Single-center retrospective real-world comparison of the efficacy and safety of atezolizumab versus durvalumab in extensive-stage small cell lung cancer

Current standard of care treatment for extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC) includes combination chemotherapy plus immunotherapy. A real-world retrospective study at Moffitt Cancer Center (Tampa, FL) compared atezolizumab plus platinum-doublet versus durvalumab plus platinum-doublet as first-line treatments for ES-SCLC. Of the 101 patients included, 55 received durvalumab and 46 received atezolizumab. The median overall survival was 14.7 months in the durvalumab group versus 11.6 months in the atezolizumab group (HR 0.59; p=0.020). There were no significant differences in progression-free survival between the two groups (6.3 versus 5.9 months; p=0.344). Atezolizumab was associated with a numerically higher incidence of immune-related adverse events (47.8% versus 32.7%; p=0.157) and hospitalization rate for these events (36.4% versus 16.7%; p=0.204). The authors conclude that in this real-world retrospective study of patients with previously untreated ES-SCLC, durvalumab plus chemotherapy resulted in longer overall survival than atezolizumab plus chemotherapy.