Collinson, F. orcid.org/0000-0001-6964-6406, Royle, K.-L. orcid.org/0000-0003-0225-1199, Swain, J. orcid.org/0000-0003-2729-3029 et al. (28 more authors) (2024) Temporary treatment cessation compared with continuation of tyrosine kinase inhibitors for adults with renal cancer: the STAR non-inferiority RCT. Health Technology Assessment, 28 (45). ISSN 1366-5278
Abstract
Background There is interest in using treatment breaks in oncology, to reduce toxicity without compromising efficacy.
Trial design A Phase II/III multicentre, open-label, parallel-group, randomised controlled non-inferiority trial assessing treatment breaks in patients with renal cell carcinoma.
Methods Participants Patients with locally advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma, starting tyrosine kinase inhibitor as first-line treatment at United Kingdom National Health Service hospitals.
Interventions At trial entry, patients were randomised (1 : 1) to a drug-free interval strategy or a conventional continuation strategy. After 24 weeks of treatment with sunitinib/pazopanib, drug-free interval strategy patients took up a treatment break until disease progression with additional breaks dependent on disease response and patient choice. Conventional continuation strategy patients continued on treatment. Both trial strategies continued until treatment intolerance, disease progression on treatment, withdrawal or death.
Objective To determine if a drug-free interval strategy is non-inferior to a conventional continuation strategy in terms of the co-primary outcomes of overall survival and quality-adjusted life-years.
Co-primary outcomes For non-inferiority to be concluded, a margin of ≤ 7.5% in overall survival and ≤ 10% in quality-adjusted life-years was required in both intention-to-treat and per-protocol analyses. This equated to the 95% confidence interval of the estimates being above 0.812 and −0.156, respectively. Quality-adjusted life-years were calculated using the utility index of the EuroQol-5 Dimensions questionnaire.
Results Nine hundred and twenty patients were randomised (461 conventional continuation strategy vs. 459 drug-free interval strategy) from 13 January 2012 to 12 September 2017. Trial treatment and follow-up stopped on 31 December 2020. Four hundred and eighty-eight (53.0%) patients [240 (52.1%) vs. 248 (54.0%)] continued on trial post week 24. The median treatment-break length was 87 days.
Nine hundred and nineteen patients were included in the intention-to-treat analysis (461 vs. 458) and 871 patients in the per-protocol analysis (453 vs. 418). For overall survival, non-inferiority was concluded in the intention-to-treat analysis but not in the per-protocol analysis [hazard ratio (95% confidence interval) intention to treat 0.97 (0.83 to 1.12); per-protocol 0.94 (0.80 to 1.09) non-inferiority margin: 95% confidence interval ≥ 0.812, intention to treat: 0.83 > 0.812 non-inferior, per-protocol: 0.80 < 0.812 not non-inferior]. Therefore, a drug-free interval strategy was not concluded to be non-inferior to a conventional continuation strategy in terms of overall survival. For quality-adjusted life-years, non-inferiority was concluded in both the intention-to-treat and per-protocol analyses [marginal effect (95% confidence interval) intention to treat −0.05 (−0.15 to 0.05); per-protocol 0.04 (−0.14 to 0.21) non-inferiority margin: 95% confidence interval ≥ −0.156]. Therefore, a drug-free interval strategy was concluded to be non-inferior to a conventional continuation strategy in terms of quality-adjusted life-years.
Limitations The main limitation of the study is the fewer than expected overall survival events, resulting in lower power for the non-inferiority comparison.
Future work Future studies should investigate treatment breaks with more contemporary treatments for renal cell carcinoma.
Conclusions Non-inferiority was shown for the quality-adjusted life-year end point but not for overall survival as pre-defined. Nevertheless, despite not meeting the primary end point of non-inferiority as per protocol, the study suggested that a treatment-break strategy may not meaningfully reduce life expectancy, does not reduce quality of life and has economic benefits. Although the treating clinicians’ perspectives were not formally collected, the fact that clinicians recruited a large number of patients over a long period suggests support for the study and provides clear evidence that a treatment-break strategy for patients with renal cell carcinoma receiving tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy is feasible.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2024 Collinson et al. This work was produced by Collinson et al. under the terms of a commissioning contract issued by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. This is an Open Access publication distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 4.0 licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. For attribution the title, original author(s), the publication source – NIHR Journals Library, and the DOI of the publication must be cited. |
Keywords: | CARCINOMA, RENAL CELL; CLINICAL TRIALS; COST–BENEFIT ANALYSIS; DRUG ADMINISTRATION SCHEDULE; NON-INFERIORITY TRIAL; PAZOPANIB; QUALITY-ADJUSTED LIFE-YEARS; RANDOMISED; SUNITINIB; SURVIVAL; Humans; Kidney Neoplasms; Carcinoma, Renal Cell; Protein Kinase Inhibitors; Male; Female; Middle Aged; Quality-Adjusted Life Years; Aged; United Kingdom; Withholding Treatment; Sunitinib; Technology Assessment, Biomedical; Adult; Antineoplastic Agents; Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > School of Medicine and Population Health |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 14 Oct 2024 09:14 |
Last Modified: | 14 Oct 2024 14:42 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3310/jwtr4127 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | National Institute for Health and Care Research |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.3310/jwtr4127 |
Related URLs: | |
Sustainable Development Goals: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:218237 |