Gemcitabine Plus Cisplatin Versus Fluorouracil Plus Cisplatin as First-Line Therapy for Recurrent or Metastatic Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma: Final Overall Survival Analysis of GEM20110714 Phase III Study

PURPOSE GEM20110714 (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01528618), the first randomized, phase III study of systemic chemotherapy in recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), reported significant progression-free survival improvement with gemcitabine plus cisplatin (GP) versus fluorouracil plus cisplatin (FP; hazard ratio, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.44 to 0.68; P < .001). Data from the final analysis of overall survival (OS) are presented here. METHODS From February 2012 to October 2015, 362 patients were randomly assigned to receive either GP (gemcitabine 1 g/m(2) once daily on days 1 and 8 and cisplatin 80 mg/m(2) once daily on day 1; n = 181) or FP (fluorouracil 4 g/m(2) in continuous intravenous infusion over 96 hours and cisplatin 80 mg/m(2) once daily on day 1; n = 181) once every 21 days. The primary end point was progression-free survival, which has been previously reported; OS was a secondary end point. RESULTS After a median follow-up time of 69.5 months with GP and 69.7 months with FP, 148 (81.8%) and 166 (91.7%) deaths occurred in the GP and FP arms, respectively. The estimated hazard ratio for OS was 0.72 (95% CI, 0.58 to 0.90; two-sided P = .004). The median OS was 22.1 months (95% CI, 19.2 to 25.0 months) with GP versus 18.6 months (95% CI, 15.4 to 21.7 months) with FP. The OS probabilities at 1, 3, and 5 years were 79.9% versus 71.8%, 31.0% versus 20.4%, and 19.2% versus 7.8%, respectively. Poststudy therapy was administered in 51.9% and 55.2% of patients in the GP and FP arms, respectively. CONCLUSION Among patients with previously untreated advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma, those who receive GP have longer OS than those receive FP. Gemcitabine plus cisplatin should be considered a preferred front-line option for these patients. (C) 2021 by American Society of Clinical Oncology

Automated summary

The study found that among patients with previously untreated advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma, those who received GP had longer overall survival compared to those who received FP. Gemcitabine plus cisplatin may be a preferred frontline option for these patients.