Capecitabine/cisplatin versus 5-fluorouracil/cisplatin in Chinese patients with advanced and metastatic gastric cancer: Re-analysis of efficacy and safety data from the ML17032 phase III clinical trial.

AIM

To confirm non-inferiority and test potential superiority of capecitabine/cisplatin (XP) over 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)/cisplatin (FP) as first-line treatment for advanced gastric cancer (AGC) in Chinese patients.

METHODS

In open-label phase III ML17032 trial, AGC (stage IIIA-IV) patients with or without metastases were randomized 1:1 to receive cisplatin (80 mg/m /day intravenous [IV] day 1) with either capecitabine (1000 mg/m /day oral [PO] twice daily [BID], days 1-14; XP) or 5-FU (800 mg/m /day continuous IV days 1-5; FP) every 3 weeks. The primary objective was to confirm the non-inferiority of XP over FP for progression-free survival (PFS).

RESULTS

The intent-to-treat (ITT) population included 126 Chinese patients (XP-62, FP-64; 67.5% male, mean age 54.7 years). The primary analysis was performed on the per-protocol (PP) population (105 patients; XP-51, FP-54; 65.7% male). Median PFS in the XP and FP groups was 7.2 and 4.5 months, respectively. The adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for PFS was 0.52 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.32-0.83, P = 0.006). Unadjusted HR for PFS in the ITT population was 0.63 (95% CI, 0.42-0.94, P = 0.022). The most frequent drug-related grade 3/4 adverse events (AEs) were neutropenia (XP-20.7%, FP-17.7%) and gastrointestinal disorders (XP-19.0%, FP-19.4%). The overall incidence of grade 3/4 AEs (XP-43.1%, FP-46.8%), serious AEs (XP-1.7%, FP-3.2%), and AEs related to treatment discontinuation (XP-10.3%, FP-16.1%) were comparable.

CONCLUSION

XP had a similar safety profile and may demonstrate superiority for PFS compared to FP as first-line treatment of Chinese patients with AGC (NCT02563054).