Overall survival (OS) with first-line palbociclib plus letrozole (PAL+LET) versus placebo plus letrozole (PBO+LET) in women with estrogen receptor–positive/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2–negative advanced breast cancer (ER+/HER2− ABC): Analyses from PALOMA-2.
Richard S. Finn, Hope S. Rugo, Véronique Dièras, Nadia Harbeck, Seock‐Ah Im, Karen A. Gelmon, Janice M. Walshe, Miguel Martín, Mariana Chávez‐MacGregor, Eustratios Bananis, Eric Gauthier, Dongrui R. Lu, Sindy Kim, Dennis J. Slamon
Abstract
LBA1003 Background: PAL was the first cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 (CDK4/6) inhibitor approved for ER+/HER2– ABC based on the randomized, phase 2 PALOMA-1 study. PALOMA-2 is a randomized, double-blind, phase 3 trial in first-line ER+/HER2– ABC that confirmed a clinically and statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) with PAL+LET versus PBO+LET (median PFS, 27.6 vs 14.5 months; hazard ratio, 0.56 [95% CI, 0.46–0.69]; P<0.0001). At the time of the final PFS analysis, OS data were not mature. Herein, we report OS results. Methods: 666 postmenopausal women with ER+/HER2– ABC who had not received prior systemic therapy for advanced disease were randomized 2:1 to receive PAL (125 mg/d orally, 3/1 week schedule) plus LET (2.5 mg/d orally, continuously) or PBO+LET. The primary endpoint was investigator-assessed PFS and a key secondary endpoint was OS. Per study design, 390 OS events are required to have 80% power to detect a hazard ratio <0.74 at a significance level of 0.025 (1-sided) using a stratified log-rank test. The planned final OS analysis was conducted when the number of events required for the analysis was observed. Results: At data cut-off (November 15, 2021), with a median follow-up of 90 months, 43 patients (pts; 10%) remained on PAL+LET and 5 pts (2%) on PBO+LET. With 405 deaths, median OS (95% CI) was 53.9 months (49.8–60.8) in the PAL+LET arm and 51.2 months (43.7 –58.9) in the PBO+LET arm (hazard ratio, 0.956 [95% CI, 0.777–1.177]; stratified 1-sided P=0.3378). In this OS analysis, a proportion of pts were not available for follow-up (withdrew consent or lost to follow-up) and were censored: 21% in the PBO+LET arm versus 13% in the PAL+LET arm. A posthoc sensitivity analysis excluding these pts resulted in a median OS (95% CI) of 51.6 months (46.9–57.1) with PAL+LET and 44.6 months (37.0–52.3) with PBO+LET (hazard ratio, 0.869 [95% CI, 0.706–1.069]). Of the pts who discontinued study treatment, 81% in the PAL+LET arm and 88% in the PBO+LET arm received post-study systemic therapy; 12% and 27% of pts who discontinued received CDK4/6 inhibitor, respectively. In pts with disease-free interval (DFI) >12 months, median OS (95% CI) was 66.3 months (52.1–79.7) in the PAL+LET arm (n=179) and 47.4 months (37.7–57.0) in the PBO+LET arm (n=93); hazard ratio, 0.728 (95% CI, 0.528-1.005). No new safety findings were observed. Conclusions: PALOMA-2 met its primary endpoint of improving PFS but not the secondary endpoint of OS. Pts receiving PAL+LET had numerically longer OS compared to PBO+LET, but the results were not statistically significant. Funding: Pfizer Inc (NCT01740427) Clinical trial information: NCT01740427.