First-line crizotinib versus platinum-pemetrexed chemotherapy in patients with advanced ROS1-rearranged non-small-cell lung cancer

Objectives Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved crizotinib for advanced ROS1-rearranged (ROS1+) non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients due to a single-arm study PROFILE 1001. However, there is no direct comparison between crizotinib and platinum-pemetrexed chemotherapy. Materials and methods Clinical data of advanced ROS1+NSCLC patients treated with first-line crizotinib or platinum-pemetrexed chemotherapy between August 2010 and December 2017 were analyzed. Results Seventy-seven patients were eligible, including 30 (39.0%) in the crizotinib group and 47 (61.0%) in the platinum-pemetrexed chemotherapy group. The median follow-up was 28.1 months (95% confidence interval [CI]: 19.2-39.0). The objective response rate (ORR) of crizotinib (86.7%, 95% CI: 73.3-96.7) was higher than that of platinum-pemetrexed chemotherapy (44.7%, 95% CI: 29.8-57.4, P < .001). The disease control rate (DCR) was 96.7% (95% CI: 90.0-100) in the crizotinib group and 85.1% (95% CI: 74.5-95.7) in the chemotherapy group (P = .140). Significantly longer progression-free survival (PFS) was observed in the patients treated with crizotinib (18.4 months, 95% CI: 6.4-30.3) versus platinum-pemetrexed chemotherapy (8.6 months, 95% CI: 6.9-10.3, P < .001). Overall survival (OS) was also compared between the two groups and no significant difference was seen (Not reach vs 28.4 months [95% CI: 20.7-36.0], P = .176). Notably, a total of 37 patients have treatment crossover after the failure of first-line treatment. Among those patients, difference in OS was not statistically significant between seven patients who have given first-line crizotinib (38.6 months, 95% CI: 0-81.0) and 30 patients who have given platinum-pemetrexed chemotherapy initially (32.8 months, 95% CI: 11.9-53.8, P = .805). Conclusions Our results suggested that first-line crizotinib had higher ORR and longer PFS than platinum-pemetrexed chemotherapy in patients with advanced ROS1+NSCLC, but the differences were not observed for OS.