Mechanisms of resistance to anti-PD1 treatment in recurrent and/or metastatic SCCHN

Prof Dr Annette Lim presents the patient-reported outcomes (PROs) from the C-POST trial, a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study investigating adjuvant cemiplimab in patients with high-risk CSCC. As exploratory endpoints, PROs were assessed to evaluate the impact of cemiplimab on health-related quality of life during treatment and follow-up.

PROs were measured using the EORTC QLQ-C30 and the EQ-5D-3L visual analog scale (VAS), collected at the start of each treatment cycle, at the end of treatment, and during follow-up. At baseline, mean PRO scores were balanced between treatment arms. Across all treatment cycles and follow-up timepoints, there were no clinically meaningful differences in EORTC QLQ-C30 or EQ-5D-3L VAS scores between patients receiving cemiplimab and those receiving placebo. Furthermore, the proportion of patients experiencing a clinically significant improvement or deterioration in quality of life remained comparable between arms throughout treatment. Time to first clinically meaningful deterioration in health-related quality of life was also similar.

In conclusion, the C-POST trial demonstrated that adjuvant cemiplimab does not adversely affect patient-reported health-related quality of life compared with placebo, supporting its favorable benefit-risk profile.