# Real-world description of patients with resected epidermal growth factor receptor mutation positive non-small cell lung carcinoma treated with adjuvant osimertinib in an early access program in Italy: the ELBA observational study

## TL;DR

This study describes real-world data on Italian patients with early-stage EGFR-mutated lung cancer who received osimertinib before it was officially approved.

## Contribution

The study provides real-world insights into the use of osimertinib in an early access program, complementing clinical trial data.

## Key findings

- Most patients were female, with a median age of 67.5 years and significant comorbidities.
- Lobectomy was the most common surgical procedure, and adjuvant chemotherapy was used in 32.4% of patients.
- Molecular testing was widely used, with PCR and next-generation sequencing being the primary methods.

## Abstract

Following the ADAURA study results, showing that adjuvant osimertinib was associated with significant improvement in disease-free survival among patients with stage IB-IIIA epidermal growth factor receptor mutation positive (EGFRm+) non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), an Early Access Program (EAP) was activated in Italy to provide preapproval access to osimertinib.

The ELBA observational retrospective cohort study aims to describe the characteristics, diagnostic workup, mutation testing, and treatment patterns of the patients included in the ADAURA EAP. The retrospective observation period was from the day of the first procedure leading to the pathological diagnosis of NSCLC (index date) to osimertinib initiation and data were obtained from medical records or other original documents available at the sites.

Overall, 71 patients were evaluable, mainly females (73.2%), with mean (SD) age of 67.5 (8.7) years. Age-adjusted Charlson Comorbidity Index scored 2 or 3 for 74.7% of patients without considering lung cancer. Forty-six (66.7%) out of 69 evaluable patients with available data were discussed at the multi-disciplinary team meeting. The median (25th-75th percentiles) time from the initial diagnostic suspicion to the index date was 52.0 (30.0-67.0) days and from index date to EGFR test prescription 20.0 (0.0-42.0) days. Among patients with available data (N = 69), the tests were mostly single-gene polymerase chain reaction mutation-specific test (63.8%) and next-generation sequencing (33.3%). Primary tumor surgery was mostly lobectomy (n/N=63/71, 88.7%). Pathological staging was IB for 21.1% of patients, II for 43.7% and III for 35.2%. Adjuvant chemotherapy prior to osimertinib was administered in 32.4% of patients. Osimertinib was started after a median (25th-75th percentiles) time from tumor resection of 2.9 (2.1-4.9) months.

The ELBA Study showed an evolving landscape in biomarker-driven and molecular targeted therapies in early-stage NSCLC management towards the integration of mutational testing into clinical practice, with a growing focus on an optimal definition of adjuvant treatment.