Maintenance Nab-Paclitaxel in Squamous NSCLC

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The abound study is exploring maintenance therapy with nab-paclitaxel in patients with squamous cell non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Maintenance strategies using pemetrexed are commonly used for patients with non-squamous histology; however, the abound trial hopes to discover a similar approach for patients with squamous histology, notes H. Jack West, MD.

Nab-paclitaxel is an attractive choice for maintenance therapy due to its favorable toxicity profile, suggests West. In the abound study, 4 cycles of induction therapy with nab-paclitaxel and carboplatin will be followed by maintenance nab-paclitaxel or best supportive care. The primary outcome measure will be progression-free survival.

Traditionally, maintenance therapy has been administered once every 3 weeks. In abound, nab-paclitaxel will be administered on day 1 and 8 of a 21-day cycle. Given this dosing strategy, it will be interesting to see whether fatigue, neuropathy, and cytopenias arise in the study, notes West.