OBJECTIVES

Nivolumab is approved for the treatment of R/M SCCHN after platinum use in Germany & the US. Access to updated real world data sources in the US is readily available, while this data is limited in other countries. We aimed to compare characteristics of patients receiving nivolumab for R/M SCCHN in Germany and the USA.

METHODS

Data were obtained from the prospective HANNA study in Germany and from curated electronic health record data from the Flatiron Health database in the USA. We compared sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of patients receiving nivolumab for R/M SCCHN for the first time following prior platinum based therapy. Patients were included if they were aged over 18.

RESULTS

We included 191 patients from HANNA and 601 patients from Flatiron.

Patients treated with nivolumab for R/M SCCHN in Germany and the USA had a similar mean age (USA: 64.3, Germany: 63.2), sex (USA: 77.2% male, Germany: 83.2% male) and any smoking history (USA: 79.8%, Germany: 72.7%).

There were differences in the location of the primary tumour in patients receiving nivolumab (P<0.0001). In the USA, patients were more likely to be receiving nivolumab for oropharyngeal (USA: 49.3%, Germany: 35.5%) or laryngeal cancer (USA: 22.7%, Germany: 12.3%), and less likely to be receiving nivolumab for hypopharyngeal cancer (USA: 7.4%, Germany: 21.0%).

Patients in Germany were more likely to have ECOG ≥2 (p<0.0001); Germany: 27.8%, USA: 9.4%.

CONCLUSIONS

Given the similarities of patient characteristics, and ability to perform matching analyses for characteristics that differ, US data could have value in Germany and other European countries where data is limited or unavailable.