On September 2, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved durvalumab (Imfinzi) in combination with gemcitabine and cisplatin for adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic biliary tract cancer.
TOPAZ-1
Efficacy was evaluated in TOPAZ-1 (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03875235), a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multiregional trial that enrolled 685 patients with histologically confirmed, locally advanced unresectable or metastatic biliary tract cancer who had not previously received systemic therapy for advanced disease.
Patient trial demographics were as follows: 56% Asian, 37% White, 2% Black, and 4% other race; 7% Hispanic or Latino; 50% male and 50% female; median age was 64 years (range = 20–85) and 47% were 65 years or older. Fifty-six percent of patients had intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, 25% had gallbladder cancer, and 19% had extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.
Patients were randomly assigned 1:1 to receive either:
- Durvalumab at 1,500 mg on day 1 plus gemcitabine at 1,000 mg/m2 and cisplatin at 25 mg/m2 on days 1 and 8 of each 21-day cycle for up to eight cycles, followed by durvalumab 1,500 mg every 4 weeks, or
- Placebo on day 1 plus gemcitabine at 1,000 mg/m2 and cisplatin at 25 mg/m2 on days 1 and 8 of each 21-day cycle for up to eight cycles, followed by placebo every 4 weeks.
Durvalumab or placebo were continued until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Treatment was permitted beyond disease progression if the patient was clinically stable and deriving clinical benefit (as determined by the investigator).
Overall Survival
The major efficacy outcome measure was overall survival. Tumor assessments were conducted every 6 weeks for the first 24 weeks, then every 8 weeks until confirmed objective disease progression. A statistically significant improvement in overall survival was demonstrated in patients randomly assigned to receive durvalumab with gemcitabine and cisplatin compared to those receiving placebo with gemcitabine and cisplatin. Median overall survival was 12.8 months (95% confidence interval = 11.1–14) and 11.5 months (95% CI = 10.1–12.5) in the durvalumab and placebo arms, respectively (hazard ratio = 0.80, 95% CI = 0.66–0.97, P = .021). The median progression-free survival was 7.2 months (95% CI = 6.7–7.4) and 5.7 months (95% CI = 5.6–6.7) in the durvalumab and placebo arms, respectively. The investigator-assessed overall response rate was 27% (95% CI = 22%–32%) and 19% (95% CI = 15%–23%) in the durvalumab and placebo arms, respectively.
The most common (≥ 20%) adverse reactions occurring in patients were fatigue, nausea, constipation, decreased appetite, abdominal pain, rash, and pyrexia.
The recommended durvalumab dose is 1,500 mg every 3 weeks for patients with a body weight of ≥ 30 kg when given with gemcitabine and cisplatin, followed by 1,500 mg every 4 weeks as a single agent until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. For patients with a body weight of < 30 kg, the recommended dose is 20 mg/kg every 3 weeks with gemcitabine and cisplatin followed by 20 mg/kg every 4 weeks until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.
This review was conducted under Project Orbis, an initiative of the FDA Oncology Center of Excellence that provides a framework for concurrent submission and review of oncology drugs among international partners. For this review, the FDA collaborated with the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration, Health Canada, Singapore’s Health Sciences Authority, and Switzerland’s Swissmedic. The application reviews may be ongoing at the other regulatory agencies.
This review used the Assessment Aid, a voluntary submission from the applicant to facilitate the FDA’s assessment.
This application was granted Priority Review and Orphan Drug designation.
