SCLC, Extensive Stage clinical trials

Patients With ES-SCLC and ECOG PS=2 Receiving Atezolizumab-Carboplatin-Etoposide

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a rapidly proliferating, neuroendocrine tumor that accounts for about 15% of all lung cancers. Most patients have metastases at primary diagnosis involving sites like bone, adrenal glands, liver and brain. Compared with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) SCLC has a unique natural history with a shorter doubling time, higher growth fraction, earlier development of widespread metastases, and uniform initial response to chemo- or radiotherapy. The combination of cis- or carboplatin and etoposide is the standard of care in the first-line treatment of stage IV (extensive-disease) SCLC (ED-SCLC). Despite response rates of 50-80%, most patients relapse within six months and the median survival time is less than 10 months. Between 14 and 23% of SCLC patients develop brain metastases. New cytotoxic agents as well as targeted therapies have not been able to show any improvement of survival in this group of patients. Early phase trials of PD 1/PD L1-blocking immunotherapeutic agents in patients with recurrent or ED SCLC have shown promising response rates and good tolerability. Immunotherapy may also contribute to the efficacy of systemic treatment by maintaining initial responses to chemotherapy. A double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 trial indicates that the addition of atezolizumab to standard chemotherapy significantly improves overall survival and progression-free survival compared with chemotherapy alone in treatment-naïve patients with ED-SCLC who are in good general condition (ECOG 0 or 1). However, about one in three SCLC patients has a poor performance status (ECOG≥2), which is associated with even shorter survival times of under eight months. At present, there is little information regarding the feasibility, safety and efficacy of adding atezolizumab to standard chemotherapy for this considerable fraction of patients. The investigators expect, that atezolizumab in addition to chemotherapy is feasible in patients with stage IV SCLC and reduced performance status and therefore crucial efficacy data can be acquired in this trial to evaluate a putative Phase III transition in this particular patient population.