POPLAR
Trial question
What is the role of atezolizumab in patients with previously treated non-small cell lung cancer?
Study design
Multi-center
Open label
RCT
Population
Characteristics of study participants
41.0% female
59.0% male
N = 287
287 patients (118 female, 169 male).
Inclusion criteria: patients with previously treated non-small cell lung cancer.
Key exclusion criteria: active or untreated CNS metastases, history of pneumonitis, autoimmune or chronic viral diseases, or previous treatment with docetaxel, CD137 agonists, anti-CTLA4, anti-PD-L1, or anti-PD-1 therapeutic antibodies, or PD-L1-PD-1 pathway-targeting agents.
Interventions
N=144 atezolizumab (intravenous dosage of 1200 mg once every 3 weeks).
N=143 atezolizumab (intravenous dosage of 75 mg/m² once every 3 weeks).
Primary outcome
Overall survival
12.6 months
9.7 months
12.6 months
9.4 months
6.3 months
3.1 months
0.0 months
Atezolizumab
Atezolizumab
Significant
increase ▲
Significant increase in overall survival (12.6 months vs. 9.7 months; HR 1.37, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.89).
Secondary outcomes
No significant difference in progression-free survival (2.7 months vs. 3 months; HR 0.94, 95% CI 0.72 to 1.23).
Safety outcomes
Significant differences in treatment-related grade 3-4 adverse events (11% vs. 39%), discontinuation because of adverse events (8% vs. 22%), and death from treatment-related adverse event (< 1% vs. 2%).
Conclusion
In patients with previously treated non-small cell lung cancer, atezolizumab was superior to atezolizumab with respect to overall survival.
Reference
Fehrenbacher L, Spira A, Ballinger M et al. Atezolizumab versus docetaxel for patients with previously treated non-small-cell lung cancer (POPLAR): a multicentre, open-label, phase 2 randomised controlled trial. Lancet. 2016 Apr 30;387(10030):1837-46.
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