Healthcare provider awareness and integration of immunotherapy for stage III NSCLC.

Abstract

123 Background: In February 2018, immunotherapy was approved for patients with unresectable stage III NSCLC without progression after concurrent chemoradiotherapy (cCRT). The anti–PD-L1 inhibitor durvalumab is now considered by most experts to be the standard of care (SoC) in this setting based on improved survival outcomes. Methods: We conducted a series of 5 CME-certified symposia to provide healthcare providers (HCPs) with education that included expert and guideline recommendations on the optimal use of durvalumab therapy for patients with unresectable stage III NSCLC. These symposia were conducted at 3 major oncology conferences (NCCN Annual, AACR, ASCO Annual) and 2 managed care pharmacy (MCP) conferences (AMCP Annual, AMCP Nexus) over an 8-month period after durvalumab was approved (Table). Polling questions designed to assess key aspects of HCP knowledge and practice patterns were repeated at each symposium and responses were collected through an audience response system. Results: Across the 5 symposia, on average fewer than 45% of responding HCPs recommended durvalumab consolidation therapy for an ideal patient candidate with stage III NSCLC after cCRT (Table). Among responding HCPs across 4 symposia, on average fewer than 30% identified the optimal recommended duration of 1 year of durvalumab therapy based on current clinical evidence. Physicians did identify the optimal management of immune-related pulmonary toxicity associated with durvalumab treatment more often than other HCPs (Table). Conclusions: These pre-education data suggest that a large percentage of HCPs are not fully aware of the available clinical evidence and are delayed in the implementation of immunotherapy for unresectable stage III NSCLC. [Table: see text]