A plain language summary of atezolizumab compared with single-agent chemotherapy in participants with non-small cell lung cancer who should not receive platinum-based chemotherapy (the IPSOS study)
- PMID: 40391393
- PMCID: PMC12150619
- DOI: 10.1080/14796694.2025.2500915
A plain language summary of atezolizumab compared with single-agent chemotherapy in participants with non-small cell lung cancer who should not receive platinum-based chemotherapy (the IPSOS study)
Plain language summary
What is this summary about?This plain language summary reports the results of the IPSOS clinical study. This study looked at treatment with atezolizumab (a type of immunotherapy) compared with single-agent chemotherapy (1 chemotherapy drug; either vinorelbine or gemcitabine) in participants receiving their first treatment for advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).People with advanced or metastatic NSCLC are often treated with platinum-based chemotherapy, which is a combination of 2 drugs. However, a doctor may decide that some people are not suitable candidates for platinum-based chemotherapy because they are too weak, or they are older and have other medical conditions. These people who should not receive platinum-based chemotherapy are often treated with 1 chemotherapy drug (single-agent chemotherapy) instead.People who are weaker, older, or have other medical problems are often not allowed to participate in clinical trials for new medicines. Therefore, these patients are not well represented in clinical trials. The IPSOS study focused on these under-represented patients.The IPSOS study compared how well atezolizumab worked compared with single-agent chemotherapy (vinorelbine or gemcitabine) in participants who should not receive platinum-based chemotherapy.Researchers collected information about the health of participants for an average of more than 3 years after starting treatment.What were the results?Compared with single-agent chemotherapy, atezolizumab improved how long participants lived after starting treatment. After 2 years, the percentage of participants still alive was twice as high in the atezolizumab group (24%) compared with the chemotherapy group (12%), despite over 50% of patients in the chemotherapy group who were still alive at 2 years receiving subsequent immunotherapy. Throughout their treatment, participants in the atezolizumab group reported no change in their health and ability to function and enjoy life, while participants in the chemotherapy group reported worsening in some of these measures. Compared with single-agent chemotherapy, atezolizumab was associated with a similar rate of serious side effects (those that were life-threatening, needed hospital care, or caused lasting problems or death) related to treatment and half the rate of severe side effects (those considered medically important by a person’s doctor; also called ‘Grade 3, 4, or 5’) related to treatment.What do the results of the study mean?Atezolizumab is now approved by the European Medicines Agency and can be used as a first treatment for people with advanced or metastatic NSCLC who aren’t able to receive platinum-based chemotherapy.[Box: see text].
Conflict of interest statement
SML declares support from Roche for attending meetings and travelling to present the first-line atezolizumab versus single-agent chemotherapy in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer ineligible for treatment with a platinum-containing regimen (IPSOS) trial at the European Society of Medical Oncology 2022 meeting, and membership for the UK commission on Human Medicines and the Oncology and Haematology Expert Advisory Group. CS declares provision of study material from Roche; clinical trial support, consulting fees, and payment or honoraria for lectures, presentations, speakers bureaus, manuscript writing, or educational events, from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, MSD, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, and Takeda; and support for attending meetings or travel from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim,
Roche, and Takeda. KP declares institutional funding from Alkem Laboratories and Roche. DK declares membership on an advisory board for Bristol Myers Squibb, MSD, Amgen, Roche, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, Takeda, Sanofi-Aventis, and Janssen. AR declares consulting fees from AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, MSD, Novartis, Pfizer, and Roche and support for attending meetings or travel from Bristol Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, and Roche. TT declares payment for advisory board activity relating to atezolizumab in early-stage NSCLC. DV declares consulting fees from Lilly, Roche, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Novartis, MSD, Bristol Myers Squibb, Takeda, and Gilead; payment or honoraria for lectures, presentations, speakers bureaus, manuscript writing, or educational events from AstraZeneca, Roche, MSD, Bristol Myers Squibb, Pfizer, Gilead, Takeda, and Bayer; and support for attending meetings or travel from AstraZeneca and Pfizer. RC declares receiving a grant to run the study; consulting fees from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Lilly Oncology, Roche, Pfizer, MSD, Bristol Myers Squibb, Takeda, Bayer, Sanofi, Novartis, and Janssen; honoraria from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Lilly Oncology, Roche, Pfizer, MSD, Bristol Myers Squibb, Takeda, Bayer, Sanofi, Novartis, and Janssen; support for attending meetings or travel from MSD, Takeda, Roche, and Janssen; participation on advisory boards for AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Lilly Oncology, Roche, Pfizer, MSD, Bristol Myers Squibb, Takeda, Bayer, Sanofi, Novartis, and Janssen; and owning stock or stock options for Leaders in Oncology at The Christie Private Care. DC declares payment for speakers bureaus or scientific advisory from MSD, Bristol Myers Squibb, Roche, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, Amgen, and Sanofi Genzyme. GL declares institutional grants or contracts from the US National Cancer Institute, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute (Canada), AstraZeneca, Takeda, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Amgen; payment or honoraria for lectures, presentations, speakers bureaus, manuscript writing, or educational events from AstraZeneca, Pfizer, EMD Serono, Takeda, Jazz, and Novartis; and participation on a data safety monitoring board or advisory board for AstraZeneca, Pfizer, EMD Serono, Merck, AbbVie, Jazz, Takeda, Roche, Bristol Myers Squibb, Novartis, and Lilly. MR declares consulting fees, payment or honoraria for lectures, presentations, speakers bureaus, manuscript writing, or educational events, and support for attending meetings or travel from Amgen, AstraZeneca, BeiGene, Bristol Myers Squibb, Boehringer Ingelheim, Daiichi-Sankyo, GlaxoSmithKline, Mirati, Merck, MSD, Novartis, Pfizer, Sanofi, and Roche; and participation on a data safety monitoring board or advisory board for Sanofi and Daiichi-Sankyo. RP declares consulting fees from AstraZeneca; payment or honoraria for lectures, presentations, speakers bureaus, manuscript writing, or educational events from Guardant Health and Pfizer; support for attending meetings or travel from MSD; and participation on a data safety monitoring board or advisory board for AstraZeneca. MPM declares honoraria for lectures from Roche and MSD. YH and SM are employed by Roche. EH declares study support from Roche, discounted prices on stocks as a Roche employee, and employment by Roche. MC declares stocks as part of employment at Genentech and employment at Genentech. HKV is employed by Roche and declares holding stock for Roche. SP declares consultation or an advisory role for AbbVie, AiCME, Amgen, Arcus, AstraZeneca, Bayer, BeiGene, Biocartis, BioInvent, Blueprint Medicines, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Clovis, Daiichi-Sankyo, Debiopharm, ecancer, Eli Lilly, Elsevier, F-Star, Fishawack, Foundation Medicine, Genzyme, Gilead, GlaxoSmithKline, Illumina, Imedex, IQVIA, Incyte, Ipsen, iTeos, Janssen, Medscape, Medtoday, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Merck Serono, Merrimack, Novartis, Novocure, OncologyEducation, PharmaMar, Phosplatin Therapeutics, Physicians’ Education Resource, Peerview, Pfizer, PRIME, Regeneron, RMEI, Roche and Genentech, Research to Practice, Sanofi, Seattle Genetics, Takeda, and Vaccibody; speaking in a company’s organized public event for AiCME, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, ecancer, Eli Lilly, Foundation Medicine, GlaxoSmithKline, Illumina, Imedex, Ipsen, Medscape, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Mirati, Novartis, PER, Peerview, Pfizer, Prime, Roche and Genentech, RTP, Sanofi, and Takeda; and receipt of grants and research support (institutional). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.
Writing support was provided by Marcia Gamboa, PhD, of Nucleus Global, an Inizio Company, and funded by F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.
Patient reviewers on this PLSP have received honorarium from
Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.
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