S‐1 plus cisplatin as first‐line treatment of patients with advanced non‐small cell lung cancer in Taiwan

AIM: S-1 combined with cisplatin is known to be noninferior to taxanes plus platinum as the first-line treatment for patients with advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the Japanese population. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety profiles of oral S-1 plus cisplatin (SP) in Taiwanese patients. METHODS: Patients with previously untreated stage IIIB or IV NSCLC were prospectively recruited to receive 40-60 mg of S-1 twice daily on days 1-21 plus 60 mg/m(2) of cisplatin on day 8 in a 5-week cycle for up to six cycles. RESULTS: A total of 55 patients from five cancer centers in Taiwan were enrolled. Among the 46 evaluable patients, those administered with SP achieved disease control rate of 69.6% (partial response, 19.6%; stable disease, 50.0%), with median overall survival and progression-free survival (PFS) of 15.1 and 5.7 months, respectively. Moreover, a better survival trend was observed in epidermal growth factor receptor mutation-positive patients versus mutation-negative patients treated with SP (PFS, 8.6 vs 5.6 months). The most commonly observed treatment-related adverse events (AEs) were nausea (41.8%), followed by decreased appetite, anemia, and diarrhea. Grade of >/=3 AEs related to the study treatment occurred in 11 patients (20.0%). No febrile neutropenia or treatment-related death was found in this study. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that SP is an effective and safe first-line regimen for Taiwanese patients with advanced NSCLC.