Phase III Trial of Two Versus Four Additional Cycles in Patients Who Are Nonprogressive After Two Cycles of Platinum-Based Chemotherapy in Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer

Abstract

This study confirms the noninferiority of overall survival with four cycles compared with six cycles of chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of advanced NSCLC and supports the current American Society of Clinical Oncology guidelines. Notably, patients receiving six cycles of chemotherapy compared with four cycles showed a favorable TTP, suggesting that further investigation of the new strategies of maintenance therapy with less toxic agents after three to four cycles of induction chemotherapy might be warranted to improve survival, with consideration of both ethnicity and pharmacogenomic signatures.