PurposeTo establish a baseline for care and overall survival (OS) based upon contemporary first-line treatments prescribed in the era before the introduction of immune checkpoint inhibitors, for people with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) without common actionable mutations.MethodsUsing a nationally representative electronic health record data from the Flatiron dataset which included 162 practices from different regions in US, we identified patients (≥18 years old) newly diagnosed with stage IV NSCLC initiating first-line anticancer therapy (November 2012- January 2015, with follow-up through July 2015). Patients with documented epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) or anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) translocation were excluded. Anti-cancer drug therapy and overall survival were described overall, and by histology.ResultsA total of 2,014 patients with stage IV NSCLC without known EGFR or ALK genomic tumor aberrations initiated systemic anticancer therapy, 22% with squamous and 78% with nonsquamous histology. Their mean (SD) age was 67 (10) years, 55% were male, and 87% had a smoking history. In nonsquamous NSCLC, carboplatin plus pemetrexed either without (25.7%) or with bevacizumab (16%) were the most common regimens; 26.6% of nonsquamous patients receiving induction therapy also received continuation maintenance therapy. In squamous NSCLC, carboplatin plus paclitaxel (37.6%) or nab-paclitaxel (21.1%) were the most commonly used regimens. Overall median OS was 9.7 months (95% CI: 9.1, 10.3), 8.5 months (95% CI: 7.4, 10.0) for squamous, and 10.0 months (95% CI: 9.4, 10.8) for nonsquamous NSCLC.ConclusionThe results provide context for evaluating the effect of shifting treatment patterns of NSCLC treatments on patient outcomes, and for community oncology benchmarking initiatives.

BackgroundThe goals of this multinational retrospective study were to describe treatment patterns and survival outcomes by receipt of molecular testing and molecular status of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).MethodsThis chart review study, conducted in Italy, Spain, Germany, Australia, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Brazil, included 1440 patients with newly diagnosed advanced (stage IIIB/IV) NSCLC initiating systemic therapy from January 2011 through June 2013, with follow-up until July 2016. We evaluated treatment patterns and survival by histology, line of therapy, molecular testing, and test results for epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation and/or anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) rearrangement. Country-specific data were analyzed descriptively and presented as ranges (lowest to highest country). Overall survival (OS) was estimated using Kaplan-Meier method.ResultsPatients with ≥1 molecular test varied from 43% (Brazil) to 85% (Taiwan). Numerically greater proportions of patients who were female, Asian, or never/former-smokers, and those with nonsquamous histology or stage-IV NSCLC, received a test. Testing was common for nonsquamous NSCLC (54%, Brazil, to 91%, Taiwan), with positive EGFR and ALK tests from 17% (Brazil and Spain) to 67% (Taiwan) and from 0% (Brazil) to 60% (Taiwan), respectively. First-line treatment regimens for nonsquamous NSCLC with positive EGFR/ALK tests included targeted therapy for 30% (Germany) to 89% (Japan); with negative/inconclusive test results, platinum-based combinations for 88% (Japan) to 98% (Brazil); and if not tested, platinum-based combinations for 80% (Australia) to 95% (Japan), except in Taiwan, where 44% received single agents. Median OS from first-line therapy initiation was 10.0 (Japan) to 26.7 (Taiwan) months for those tested and 7.6 (Australia/Brazil) to 19.3 (Taiwan) months for those not tested.ConclusionsWe observed substantial variation among countries in testing percentages, treatment patterns, and survival outcomes. Efforts to optimize molecular testing rates should be implemented in the context of each country’s health care scenario.

The aim of this multinational retrospective cohort study, conducted at academic and community oncology centres, was to describe real‐world treatment patterns for patients with a confirmed diagnosis of advanced/metastatic (stage IIIB/IV) non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who initiated first‐line systemic therapy from January 2011 through June 2014. The study included 1265 patients in Italy, Spain, Germany, Australia, Korea, Taiwan and Brazil. The proportion of patients with squamous versus non‐squamous NSCLC was approximately 20% versus 75%, and associated patient demographic characteristics were similar in all countries, excepting race. Patients with squamous NSCLC were predominantly male and current/ex‐smokers. Biomarker tests were performed for the majority of patients with non‐squamous NSCLC, ranging from 54% (Brazil) to 91% in Taiwan, where, of those tested, 68% with non‐squamous NSCLC had positive epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)‐mutation status; in other countries the EGFR‐positive percentages ranged from 17% (Spain/Brazil) to 40% (Korea). Platinum‐based regimens were the most common first‐line therapy in all countries except Taiwan, where gefitinib was the most common first‐line agent. Median overall survival ranged from 9.3 months (Brazil) to 25.5 months (Taiwan). The diagnostic and treatment patterns recorded in this study were heterogeneous but largely in line with NSCLC guidelines during the study period.

These real-world data illustrate the most common first-line regimens by histology, overall survival, AEs, and some of the high AE-related costs of therapy for advanced NSCLC, and provides extremely useful information for clinicians.

These real-world data illustrate the variety of second-line regimens, poor prognosis, and high cost of second-line chemotherapy for patients with advanced NSCLC treated before the approval of immunotherapies for these patients.