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Background: In PD-L1-negative patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), conclusive evidence in support of specific treatments remains lacking. Objectives: The efficacy of first-line chemoimmunotherapy versus chemotherapy alone was compared. Methods: Eligible randomized studies that included patients with advanced NSCLC irrespective of PD-L1 status who were treated with chemoimmunotherapy as the first line were identified. Kaplan-Meier curves were extracted and analyzed using restricted mean survival time (RMST). Patient-level data were reconstructed from progression-free survival (PFS) graphs. A Bayesian network meta-analysis (NETMA) was carried out. Results: In five trials selected, chemoimmunotherapy regimens, compared with chemotherapy alone, resulted in an improvement in PFS without statistical significance. In the NETMA, chemoimmunotherapy was found to slightly improve PFS. Conclusion: This analysis showed that the incremental benefit of chemoimmunotherapy versus chemotherapy is limited.

Background: The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in advanced urothelial carcinoma. Materials & methods: We selected seven cohorts of patients published in four clinical trials. The restricted mean survival time (RMST) was used to analyze survival curves, perform the comparisons and rank the treatments based on their effectiveness. The performance of RMST was compared with that of a network meta-analysis. Results: Three ICIs, vinflunine and best standard care, given as second line, were examined. ICIs significantly improved overall survival compared with best standard care. However, the survival gain was quite limited (up to 2.27 months). Post hoc pairwise comparisons were calculated. Conclusion: Our results summarized the efficacy of these treatments and confirmed the good methodological performance of RMST.

In patients with metastatic melanoma, ipilimumab has been shown to improve long-term survival. This observational multicenter study reports clinical outcomes of 418 patients treated with second-line ipilimumab from February 2013 to August 2014. Median overall survival (OS) was 6.43 months (95%CI: 5.45-7.42; n = 300), while median progression-free survival (PFS) was 3.7 months (95%CI: 3.23-4.17; n = 188). Demographic factors, such as sex or number of previous therapies did not affect OS. Survival was shorter in patients with ECOG > 0 (Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group, Performance Status) (p < 0.001), while a longer OS was found in patients who completed all four therapy cycles (p < 0.001). Adverse events of any grade were reported for 66% of patients (mainly cutaneous and gastrointestinal), but most were low grade and easily managed. Adverse events of grades 3-4 were observed in 13% of patients. This study confirmed the efficacy and safety of this treatment in real practice.