First-Line Pembrolizumab Plus Chemotherapy for Advanced Squamous NSCLC: Real-World Outcomes at U.S. Oncology Practices
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Introduction: Pembrolizumab plus carboplatin and (nab-)paclitaxel (pembrolizumab-chemotherapy) is currently an approved and recommended systemic therapy for patients with previously untreated advanced squamous NSCLC. This retrospective study evaluated real-world time on treatment (rwToT) and overall survival (OS) among patients with advanced squamous NSCLC treated with first-line pembrolizumab-chemotherapy at oncology practices in the United States. Methods: Using a real-world database, we selected adult patients with newly diagnosed or recurrent advanced squamous NSCLC (unresectable stages IIIB, IIIC, or IV) and good performance status (Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group 0-1) who initiated first-line pembrolizumab-chemotherapy from November 1, 2018, to May 31, 2020. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to determine rwToT and OS overall and by programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression. Data cutoff was October 31, 2021. Results: Of 364 eligible patients, 243 (67%) were men; median age was 70 (range: 43-84) years; and PD-L1 expression was greater than or equal to 1%, less than 1%, and unknown for 172 (47%), 94 (26%), and 98 patients (27%), respectively. Median follow-up from pembrolizumab-chemotherapy initiation to data cutoff was 26.2 months. Overall, median pembrolizumab rwToT was 6.5 months (95% confidence interval [CI]: 5.6-7.6), with on-treatment rates of 29.3% and 15.9% at 12 and 24 months, respectively. Median OS was 15.3 months (95% CI: 11.7-18.6), with 12- and 24-month OS rates of 54.9% and 37.3%, respectively. Median OS did not differ with PD-L1 expression: 16.2 months (95% CI: 10.3-20.6) for PD-L1 greater than or equal to 1% and 17.2 months (95% CI: 10.8-20.6) for PD-L1 less than 1%. Conclusions: For patients with advanced squamous NSCLC and good performance status treated with first-line pembrolizumab-chemotherapy, rwToT and OS are similar to clinical trial findings for treatment duration and OS.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.003 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".