Real-world time on treatment with immuno-oncology therapy in recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Aim: We report real-world time on treatment (rwToT) with immuno-oncology (I-O) and other systemic therapies in second-line recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (R/M HNSCC) previously treated with platinum therapies. Materials & methods: Adult patients receiving first-line platinum therapy for R/M HNSCC between January 2017 and December 2018 and a second-line therapy were selected from a US electronic medical record database. Results: In our study sample of 619 R/M HNSCC patients, second-line treatments primarily included I-O therapies (71%) and resulted in median rwToT of 2.8 months and 12-month on-treatment rate of 19.3%. For other second-line therapies, median rwToT and 12-month on-treatment rate was 1.9 months and 1.3%, respectively. Conclusion: Use of second-line I-O therapies was common and resulted in rwToT consistent with R/M HNSCC clinical trials.