Second or none: Many patients treated for refractory differentiated thyroid cancer with small molecular kinase inhibitors do not receive a second line of therapy.

Abstract

e17589 Background: Describe the treatment patterns of patients initiated on NCCN-recommended small molecular kinase inhibitors (SMKIs) for radioiodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) approved in the United States. Methods: A large national US claims database was used to identify adult patients diagnosed with thyroid cancer (≥2 non-DX medical claims, ≥ 30 days apart) from 1/1/2006 - 6/30/2016 (study period) with claims for SMKIs from 1/1/2010 - 5/31/2016. Continuous enrollment required participation in a commercial or Medicare Advantage health plan ≥3 months before and ≥1 month following index date (date of first pharmacy claim for SMKI). Line of therapy (LOT) periods were defined by receipt and timing of SMKIs. Patient follow up was earliest disenrollment, death or end of the study period. Patient characteristics and SMKI treatment patterns were described. Results: A total of 217 DTC patients were identified; 63% commercially insured and 37% Medicare Advantage. Almost half were male (48%); mean age was 61.2 years (standard deviation SD 12.5 years) and mean follow-up period was 499 days (SD 414 days). In the study period, 35% (n = 77) of patients had ≥2 LOTs and 18% (n = 39) had ≥3 LOTs. Mean treatment duration was 5.4 months (SD 6.7 mos) for LOT1, 4.9 months (SD 3.8 mos) for LOT2, and 4.2 months (SD 4.9 mo) for LOT3. During the full study period, the most used regimens were Sorafenib for both LOT1 (37%) and LOT2 (25%), pazopanib (18%) and sunitinib (18%) in LOT3. Also, in the study period, 33 patients had sorafenib in LOT1 of which 16 were treated with sorafenib again (48%) in LOT2. Post FDA approval in 2015, Lenvatinib became the predominant first-line regimen (47%, n = 29) during study period. Across all first line therapies, for those patients with ≥12 months of follow-up, 53% (n = 60) initiated LOT2. Conclusions: Sorafenib was the most common first line of therapy for DTC, with Lenvatinib adoption increasing as first-line therapy since the drug’s approval in 2015. Depending on the period evaluated, almost half to 2/3 of patients are not receiving a second line of treatment, efficacious and patient appropriate therapy is of importance in treating this rare cancer.