Prophylaxis of chemotherapy-induced neutropenia and febrile neutropenia with lipegfilgrastim in 2489 cancer patients: final results from the non-interventional study NADIR

Objectives: The non-interventional study (NIS) NADIR (DRKS00005711) evaluated the effectiveness and safety of prophylaxis with lipegfilgrastim, a glycopegylated granulocyte-colony stimulating factor, in 2500 patients undergoing chemotherapy in routine clinical practice. Primary objective was the incidence of chemotherapy-induced severe neutropenia, febrile neutropenia (FN), and neutropenia-associated complications.Methods: NADIR was a prospective NIS conducted in 201 study centers in Germany.Results: The analysis included 2489 patients. Main tumor types were breast cancer (n=1198, 48.1%), lung cancer (n=303, 12.2%), non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL; n=337, 13.5%), and prostate cancer (n=111, 4.5%). Nine hundred and ten (36.6%) patients were aged 65years (regarded as elderly patients). Severe neutropenia (CTCAE grade 3/4) was reported in 26.8% (n=666) and 25.2% (n=229) of the total population and elderly patients, respectively. FN was documented in 2.7% (n=68) of the total population vs 3.0% (n=27) of elderly patients. Primary prophylaxis with lipegfilgrastim among patients with high risk of FN (>20%) was documented in 83.5% of the total population and 75.1% of elderly patients. Infections (CTCAE grade 3/4) were documented in 99 patients (4.0%) in the total population vs 47 (5.1%) elderly patients. Fatal infections were reported in 14 (0.6%) patients in the total population vs 11 (1.2%) elderly patients. Overall, most frequent lipegfilgrastim-related adverse events (AEs) included bone pain (8.0%), anemia (3.2%), leucocytosis (2.7%), and thrombocytopenia (2.5%). Of the patients, 18.0% had 1 documented serious AE; none of the fatal events (2.7%) was lipegfilgrastim-related.Conclusions: Lipegfilgrastim administered to patients with solid tumor/NHL undergoing chemotherapy in routine clinical practice showed similar effectiveness and safety compared to the pivotal trials.