The following is a summary of “Design and Rationale for a Phase II/III, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study of Sugemalimab as Consolidation Therapy in Patients With Limited-Stage Small-Cell Lung Cancer Who Have Not Progressed Following Concurrent or Sequential Chemoradiotherapy: The SURPASS Study,” published in the November 2023  issue of Pulmonology by Zhao, et al.

There should still be a lot more treatment choices for people with limited-stage small-cell lung cancer (LS-SCLC). The standard treatment for LS-SCLC is platinum-based doublet chemotherapy given at the same time as lung radiation (cCRT). Sequential chemoradiotherapy (sCRT) is also commonly used. However, the disease always gets worse in most patients, even though the treatment was meant to cure them at first. Sugemalimab is an anti-programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) antibody that helps people with stage III non-small cell lung cancer do better after cCRT or sCRT. 

The SUPPASS study was a phase II/III, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, international study that looked into how well and safely sugemalimab works as consolidation treatment in people with LS-SCLC who haven’t gotten worse after cCRT or sCRT. Every three weeks for up to a year, 346 patients will be randomly assigned to receive either sugemalimab 1,200 mg or a sugar pill. 

The main goal was progression-free survival (PFS). Overall survival (OS), landmark PFS rate, landmark OS rate, objective response rate, and safety are some of the most important secondary goals. As planned, longitudinal molecular residual disease (MRD) tests will be done to look into things further. The study results showed how well and safely anti-PD-L1 antibody consolidation treatment works in LS-SCLC patients who have not progressed after cCRT or sCRT. They also helped doctors figure out what MRD means for LS-SCLC patients.

Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1525730423001353