P2.01-46 Investigating the Effects of Prior Malignancy on NSCLC Trial Eligibility

Abstract

Up to 18% of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who are candidates for participation in a clinical trial are excluded due to a prior malignancy. Common reasons include the need for another anti-cancer therapy and potential impact on clinical trial endpoints. We evaluated the proportion of trials that exclude patients with a prior history of malignancy, and estimate the potential impact of the prior malignancy from a cohort of NSCLC patients treated with first line systemic therapy. Clinical trials of palliative systemic therapy for NSCLC registered on or after January 1st 2014 from clinical trials.gov were reviewed to determine the proportion of trials that included a prior malignancy as an exclusion criterion. Patients with NSCLC and a prior malignancy, treated with first line palliative systemic treatment between January 1st 2010 and January 1st 2016 at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (PMCC), Toronto, Canada were identified from a cancer registry. A list of prespecified criteria of ways in which a prior malignancy may impact safety or a clinical trial endpoint was defined. These included: requirement for non-NSCLC anticancer therapies, other cancer detected on imaging, biopsy or tumour markers, disease progression or death from other malignancy, clinician uncertainty as to presence of synchronous other cancers. The proportions of patients with one or more of these criteria were assessed. 66% of 359 clinical trial protocols contained an exclusion criterion for prior malignancy. 112 patients with advanced NSCLC and a prior malignancy were identified at PMCC, the median age was 71, 49% were male, the median time between prior cancer and NSCLC diagnosis was 74 months. 21% of patients were enrolled on a clinical trial. 52(59%) of the 88 patients not enrolled on a clinical trial did not meet any of our predetermined criteria, which may impact safety or a clinical trial endpoint due to other malignancy. A prior history of a malignancy is a common exclusion in NSCLC clinical trials. Preliminary results suggest the majority of patients in our study did not appear to have a complication that would have impacted safety or clinical trial endpoints. Further analyses to explore appropriate exclusion criteria for prior malignancies, which may minimize need to exclude patients from clinical trials, are underway.