Real-world safety and effectiveness of nivolumab for recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer in Japan: a post-marketing surveillance

Background On the basis of phase III CheckMate 141 results, nivolumab was approved for recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer after undergoing platinum-containing chemotherapy in Japan. This post-marketing surveillance aimed to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of nivolumab for head and neck cancer in the real-world setting. Methods All patients with head and neck cancer who planned to receive nivolumab were centrally registered. This study monitored 607 patients for 6 months to assess nivolumab's safety, especially treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) of special interest, and effectiveness. Results TRAEs occurred in 36.1% patients, with no new safety signals. The most common TRAEs with grade >= 3 were interstitial lung disease (1.2%), diarrhea (0.8%), and hepatic function abnormal (0.7%). Meanwhile, thyroid dysfunction (10.2%), hepatic dysfunction (5.3%), and interstitial lung disease (4.1%) were the most common TRAE categories of special interest. Although the median time to the onset of each TRAE category of special interest was mostly 1-2 months, most of them occurred throughout the observation period; nonetheless, the majority of patients recovered or remitted. The 6-month survival rate was 55.9%. Conclusion Japanese patients with head and neck cancer treated with nivolumab in the real-world setting manifested no new safety signals.