Cost-Effectiveness of Neoadjuvant Pembrolizumab Plus Chemotherapy Followed by Adjuvant Single-Agent Pembrolizumab for High-Risk Early-Stage Triple-Negative Breast Cancer in the United States.

INTRODUCTION: The randomized phase III KEYNOTE-522 trial demonstrated that addition of pembrolizumab to neoadjuvant chemotherapy provided a significant improvement in event-free survival and a favorable trend in overall survival for high-risk early-stage triple-negative breast cancer (eTNBC). This analysis evaluated the cost-effectiveness of pembrolizumab in combination with chemotherapy as neoadjuvant treatment and continued as a single-agent adjuvant treatment after surgery vs. neoadjuvant chemotherapy for patients with high-risk eTNBC in the USA. METHODS: The analysis was conducted from a US third-party public healthcare payer perspective. A multistate transition model was developed using efficacy and safety data from the KEYNOTE-522 trial. The model included four mutually exclusive health states: event-free, locoregional recurrence, distant metastasis, and death to simulate patients' lifetime disease course. Quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) were calculated on the basis of EuroQoL-5 Dimensions utility data collected in KEYNOTE-522. Costs for drug acquisition/administration, adverse events, disease management, and subsequent therapies were reported (2021 US dollars). Costs and outcomes were discounted at 3% annually. A series of sensitivity analyses were performed to test the robustness of the main results. RESULTS: In the base case scenario, pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy followed by pembrolizumab resulted in expected gains of 3.37 life years (LYs) and 2.90 QALYs, and an incremental cost of $79,046 versus chemotherapy. The incremental cost per QALY gained was $27,285, which is lower than all commonly cited US willingness-to-pay thresholds. Sensitivity analyses showed the results were robust over plausible values of key model inputs and assumptions. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with neoadjuvant chemotherapy, pembrolizumab in combination with chemotherapy as neoadjuvant treatment and continued as a single-agent adjuvant treatment after surgery is considered a cost-effective option for high-risk eTNBC in the USA.

Q-TWiST analysis of pembrolizumab combined with chemotherapy as first-line treatment of metastatic triple-negative breast cancer that expresses PD-L1.

OBJECTIVE: In the KEYNOTE-355 (KN355) trial, pembrolizumab in combination with chemotherapy demonstrated superior efficacy and manageable safety compared with chemotherapy alone in patients with previously untreated locally recurrent inoperable and metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (mTNBC) with PD-L1 positive (Combined Positive Score [CPS]≥ 10) tumours. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical benefits and risks of pembrolizumab measured by quality-adjusted survival in the trial population. METHODS: The study used data from the final analysis of KN355. The Quality-adjusted Time Without Symptoms of disease progression or Toxicity of treatment (Q-TWiST) analysis was used to compare treatments of pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy versus chemotherapy alone. Patients' survival time was partitioned into three health states - toxicity before disease progression (TOX), time without symptoms or toxicity before disease progression (TWiST), and relapse (REL). Utilities for these health states were estimated using EuroQol-5 Dimensions, 3 Levels (EQ-5D-3L) data collected in KN355. Q-TWiST was derived as the utility-weighted sum of the mean health state durations. RESULTS: Patients randomised to pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy had 3.7 months greater Q-TWiST (relative gain of 18%; P = 0.003) compared to those randomised to chemotherapy at the median follow-up of 44 months, and 4.3 months greater Q-TWiST (relative gain of 20%; P = 0.004) at the maximum follow-up of 52 months. The Q-TWiST gain increased with longer follow-up time. CONCLUSIONS: Pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy was associated with statistically significant and clinically important improvement in Q-TWiST compared to chemotherapy in previously untreated PD-L1-positive mTNBC.

Effects of odanacatib on BMD and safety in the treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women previously treated with alendronate: a randomized placebo-controlled trial.

CONTEXT: Odanacatib (ODN) is a selective cathepsin K inhibitor being developed to treat osteoporosis. OBJECTIVE: The effects of ODN were evaluated on bone mineral density (BMD), biochemical markers of bone turnover, and safety in patients previously treated with alendronate. DESIGN: This was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 24-month study. SETTING: The study was conducted at private or institutional practices. PARTICIPANTS: Postmenopausal women (n = 243) ≥ 60 years of age with low BMD at the total hip, femoral neck, or trochanter (T-score ≤-2.5 but >-3.5 without prior fracture or ≤-1.5 but >-3.5 with prior fracture) on alendronate for ≥ 3 years. INTERVENTION: The intervention included ODN 50 mg or placebo weekly. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary end point was percentage change from baseline of femoral neck BMD at month 24. BMD was assessed by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry at baseline and 6, 12, and 24 months. Biochemical markers of bone turnover (serum C-telopeptides of type 1 collagen, urinary N-telopeptides of type 1 collagen, serum bone specific alkaline phosphatase, and serum N-terminal propeptide of type 1 collagen) were measured at baseline and 3, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months. RESULTS: In the ODN group, BMD changes from baseline at the femoral neck, trochanter, total hip, and lumbar spine at 24 months (1.7%, 1.8%, 0.8%, and 2.3%, respectively) were significantly different from the placebo group. ODN significantly decreased urinary N-telopeptides of type 1 collagen to creatinine ratio and significantly increased serum N-terminal propeptide of type 1 collagen compared with placebo. Serum C-telopeptides of type 1 collagen was unexpectedly increased with ODN treatment. The safety profile appeared similar between groups. CONCLUSIONS: ODN provided incremental BMD gains in osteoporotic women after alendronate treatment.

Odanacatib in the treatment of postmenopausal women with low bone mineral density: five years of continued therapy in a phase 2 study.

Odanacatib (ODN) is a selective inhibitor of the collagenase cathepsin K that is highly expressed by osteoclasts. In this 2-year, phase 2, dose-ranging trial, postmenopausal women with bone mineral density (BMD) T-scores -2.0 to -3.5 at spine or hip were randomized to weekly placebo or ODN 3, 10, 25, or 50 mg plus vitamin D(3) and calcium. Prespecified trial-extensions continued through 5 years. In year 3, all women were re-randomized to ODN 50 mg or placebo. For years 4 and 5, women who received placebo or ODN 3 mg in years 1 and 2 and placebo in year 3 received ODN 50 mg; others continued year 3 treatments. Endpoints included lumbar spine (primary), hip, 1/3 radius, and total body BMD; markers of bone metabolism; and safety. Women in the year 4 to 5 extension receiving placebo (n = 41) or ODN 50 mg (n = 100) had similar baseline characteristics. For women who received ODN (10-50 mg) for 5 years, spine and hip BMD increased over time. With ODN 50 mg continually for 5 years (n = 13), mean lumbar spine BMD percent change from baseline (95% confidence interval [CI]) was 11.9% (7.2% to 16.5%) versus -0.4% (-3.1% to 2.3%) for women who were switched from ODN 50 mg to placebo after 2 years (n = 14). In pooled results of women receiving continuous ODN (10-50 mg, n = 26-29), year 5 geometric mean percent changes from baseline in bone resorption markers cross-linked N-telopeptide of type I collagen (NTX)/creatinine and cross-linked C-telopeptide (CTX) were approximately -55%, but near baseline for bone formation markers bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (BSAP) and amino-terminal propeptide of type I procollagen (P1NP). In women switched from ODN 10 to 50 mg to placebo after 2 years (n = 25), bone turnover markers were near baseline. In summary, women receiving combinations of ODN (10-50 mg) for 5 years had gains in spine and hip BMD and showed larger reductions in bone resorption than bone formation markers. Discontinuation of ODN resulted in reversal of treatment effects. Treatment with ODN for up to 5 years was generally well-tolerated.

Efficacy and safety of losartan in children with Alport syndrome--results from a subgroup analysis of a prospective, randomized, placebo- or amlodipine-controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: No prospective, randomized, double-blind trials of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers have previously been reported in adults or children with proteinuria secondary to Alport syndrome. METHODS: This 12-week, double-blind multinational study investigated the effects of losartan 0.7-1.4 mg/kg/day compared with placebo (normotensive patients) or amlodipine 0.1-0.2 mg/kg/day up to 5 mg/day (hypertensive patients) on proteinuria [early morning-void urinary protein/creatinine ratio (UPr/Cr), baseline ≥ 34 mg/mmol] in 30 children of up to 17 years of age with Alport syndrome. RESULTS: Twelve weeks of treatment with losartan significantly reduced proteinuria compared with placebo/amlodipine: losartan -14.7 mg/mmol (interquartile range -49.7 to -5.7 mg/mmol) or 31.6% reduction using a mixed model approach versus placebo/amlodipine 2.3 mg/mmol (-26.0 to 18.1 mg/mmol), P = 0.01 or 2.3% increase using a mixed model approach. Adverse event incidence was low and comparable between losartan and placebo/amlodipine groups. CONCLUSIONS: Losartan significantly lowered proteinuria and was well tolerated after 12 weeks of treatment in children aged 1-17 years with proteinuria secondary to Alport syndrome with or without hypertension, a population that has not previously been rigorously studied.

A fast exchange algorithm for designing focused libraries in lead optimization.

Combinatorial chemistry is widely used in drug discovery. Once a lead compound has been identified, a series of R-groups and reagents can be selected and combined to generate new potential drugs. The combinatorial nature of this problem leads to chemical libraries containing usually a very large number of virtual compounds, far too large to permit their chemical synthesis. Therefore, one often wants to select a subset of "good" reagents for each R-group of reagents and synthesize all their possible combinations. In this research, one encounters some difficulties. First, the selection of reagents has to be done such that the compounds of the resulting sublibrary simultaneously optimize a series of chemical properties. For each compound, a desirability index, a concept proposed by Harrington,(20) is used to summarize those properties in one fitness value. Then a loss function is used as objective criteria to globally quantify the quality of a sublibrary. Second, there are a huge number of possible sublibraries, and the solutions space has to be explored as fast as possible. The WEALD algorithm proposed in this paper starts with a random solution and iterates by applying exchanges, a simple method proposed by Fedorov(13) and often used in the generation of optimal designs. Those exchanges are guided by a weighting of the reagents adapted recursively as the solutions space is explored. The algorithm is applied on a real database and reveals to converge rapidly. It is compared to results given by two other algorithms presented in the combinatorial chemistry literature: the Ultrafast algorithm of D. Agrafiotis and V. Lobanov and the Piccolo algorithm of W. Zheng et al.