CONTEXT: Report of a paper published in Immunotherapy, May 26th 2021 edition describing RWE study of PD-L1 testing patterns and treatment distribution in patients with NSCLC in Israel. The results demonstrated a quick uptake of testing and also that treatment patterns showed a high adherence to guidelines.
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1. “Results: The cohort consisted of 410 patients; 58% males, median age 68 years, 70% current/former smokers, 81% adenocarcinoma, 14% had brain metastases, and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status was 46/17/37% for 0-1/2-4/unknown, respectively.”
2. “This article was originally published here. Aim: We describe PD-L1 testing patterns and first-line treatment for patients with metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer in a 2.3 million-member state-mandated health service in Israel.”
3. “Materials & methods: Newly diagnosed stage IV non-small-cell lung cancer patients initiating systemic anticancer treatment from 1 January 2017 until 31 December 2018 were identified from the national cancer registry and Maccabi Healthcare Service database and followed until 30 June 2019.”
4. “A total of 80% tested for PD-L1 expression, of which 47% had tumor proportion score (TPS) ≥ 50%.”
5. “A total of 95% with TPS ≥ 50% and no known tumor aberrations (including EGFR mutations, and translocations in ALK and ROS1) received first-line PD-1/PD-L1-inhibitor monotherapy, and 80% of untested/TPS < 50% received platinum doublets.”