Recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a major health concern in Asia, and despite emerging treatment strategies, optimal first-line therapy remains uncertain due to limited long-term evidence. To address this gap, a study evaluated tislelizumab plus chemotherapy versus placebo plus chemotherapy and explored potential biomarkers of treatment response in 263 participants with a median age of 50. In the median follow-up for three years, the study found that tislelizumab plus chemotherapy demonstrated improved progression-free survival compared with placebo plus chemotherapy (median 9.6 months vs 7.4 months; hazard ratio (HR) 0.53).
Overall survival was longer in the tislelizumab group (median 45.3 months vs 31.8 months; HR 0.73), with adjusted analyses showing greater benefit (rank-preserving HR 0.56; 2-stage HR 0.62). Treatment-emergent adverse events occurred in 100%…
