RATIONALE-304 compared first-line tislelizumab (a programmed cell death protein 1 inhibitor) plus chemotherapy versus chemotherapy in advanced non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (nsq-NSCLC). This exploratory analysis focused on patients with tumor cell programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression ≥ 50%. Patients with stage IIIB/IV nsq-NSCLC were randomized (2:1) to tislelizumab plus platinum-based chemotherapy and pemetrexed every 3 weeks, followed by maintenance tislelizumab and pemetrexed, or platinum-based chemotherapy and pemetrexed followed by maintenance pemetrexed. The primary endpoint was independent review committee (IRC)-assessed progression-free survival (PFS); secondary endpoints included overall survival (OS), IRC-assessed objective response rates, and safety. The PD-L1 ≥ 50% population included 110 patients (tislelizumab plus chemotherapy, n = 74; chemotherapy, n = 36); 71.8% (n = 79) were male and 28.2% (n = 31) were female. Consistent with the final analysis (median follow-up 16.5 months), the 4-year follow-up data (median follow-up 23.4 months) continued to show an improvement in median PFS (17.2 vs. 4.6 months; stratified HR 0.29, 95% CI 0.17-0.50) and median OS (41.9 vs. 13.1 months; stratified HR 0.38, 95% CI 0.23-0.62) for patients who received tislelizumab plus chemotherapy versus chemotherapy. An additional post hoc analysis showed no significant differences in PFS or OS between PD-L1 50-89% and ≥ 90% subgroups in the tislelizumab plus chemotherapy arm. The safety profile of tislelizumab plus chemotherapy was manageable and consistent with previous analyses. In patients with advanced nsq-NSCLC and PD-L1 tumor cell expression ≥ 50%, first-line tislelizumab plus chemotherapy demonstrated clinically meaningful improvement in PFS and OS versus chemotherapy. Efficacy was consistent across subgroups of patients with high PD-L1 tumor cell expression levels (50-89% and ≥ 90%). Clinical Trials.gov NCT03663205.
Lü et al. (2025) studied this question.