A Q-TWiST analysis comparing panitumumab plus best supportive care (BSC) with BSC alone in patients with wild-type KRAS metastatic colorectal cancer

BACKGROUND: Panitumumab + best supportive care (BSC) significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS) vs BSC alone in patients with chemo-refractory wild-type KRAS metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). We applied the quality-adjusted time without symptoms of disease or toxicity (Q-TWiST) analysis to provide an integrated measure of clinical benefit, with the objective of comparing quality-adjusted survival between the two arms. As the trial design allowed patients on BSC alone to receive panitumumab after disease progression, which confounded overall survival (OS), the focus of this analysis was on PFS. METHODS: For each treatment group, the time spent in the toxicity (grade 3 or 4 adverse events; TOX), time without symptoms of disease or toxicity (TWiST), and relapse (after disease progression; REL) states were estimated by the product-limit method, and adjusted using utility weights derived from patient-reported EuroQoL 5-dimensions measures. Sensitivity analyses were performed in which utility weights (varying from 0 to 1) were applied to time in the TOX and REL health states. RESULTS: There was a significant difference between groups favouring panitumumab + BSC in quality-adjusted PFS (12.3 weeks vs 5.8 weeks, respectively, P<0.0001) and quality-adjusted OS (P=0.0303). CONCLUSION: In patients with chemo-refractory wild-type KRAS mCRC, panitumumab + BSC significantly improved quality-adjusted survival compared with BSC alone. British Journal of Cancer (2011) 104, 1848-1853. doi:10.1038/bjc.2011.179 www.bjcancer.com Published online 24 May 2011 (C) 2011 Cancer Research UK