UC Irvine

Sintilimab combined with pemetrexed and platinum met the primary endpoint of improving progression-free survival (PFS) as a first-line therapy for nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the phase 3 trial ORIENT-11 (NCT03607539). As seen in similar trials, the addition of sintilimab, a PD-1 inhibitor, to chemotherapy improved the PFS without significantly worsening the toxicity, with improvements in response rate and duration of response. In contrast to previous trials, the ORIENT-11 trial was conducted completely in China. Both intrinsic and extrinsic factors are important to consider when reviewing foreign clinical trial data, as they may influence the efficacy and the safety outcomes. Here we discuss the applicability of ORIENT-11 clinical results to a Western population.