Real-World Clinical Outcomes in Patients With Locally Advanced or Metastatic Merkel Cell Carcinoma Treated in US Oncology Clinical Practices: Results From SPEAR-Merkel

CONCLUSION: SPEAR-Merkel showed that patients with laMCC or mMCC treated with IO therapies had improved outcomes compared with chemotherapy in clinical practice. The study provides insight on utilization and clinical outcomes associated with newer, more innovative therapies in clinical practice, which may help clinicians understand the variety of newer treatment options for both laMCC and mMCC.IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE, A BRIEF STATEMENT: To our knowledge, SPEAR-Merkel is the first study to evaluate real-world clinical outcomes in patients with locally advanced (laMCC) and metastatic MCC (mMCC) receiving first-line (1L) avelumab, non-avelumab immuno-oncology therapies, or chemotherapy in a real-world setting. SPEAR-Merkel showed clinical benefit for immuno-oncology therapies compared with chemotherapy. The study provides insight on uses and clinical outcomes associated with innovative therapies in clinical practice, which may help clinicians understand the variety of newer treatment options for both laMCC and mMCC. The study is of particular importance as it shows that chemotherapy is still being used as 1L treatment despite its inferior clinical and safety profile.PMID:34101298 | DOI:10.1002/onco.13845
Source: The Oncologist - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Source Type: research