PACIFIC-5: a phase III clinical trial of consolidation durvalumab in patients with unresectable stage III NSCLC and no progression after concurrent or sequential chemoradiotherapy
Published report from the PACIFIC-5 trial registered as NCT03706690, in Journal of hematology & oncology (2025), chosen as the most cited paper whose own text cites the registry id.
Overview
Background: Consolidation durvalumab following no progression on concurrent chemoradiotherapy (cCRT) is standard of care for unresectable stage III non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, in clinical practice many patients receive sequential CRT (sCRT). The PACIFIC-5 trial aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of consolidation durvalumab for unresectable stage III NSCLC following no progression on cCRT or sCRT.
Methods: This randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase III trial enrolled patients aged ≥ 18 years with unresectable stage III NSCLC, regardless of PD-L1 expression or sensitising EGFR or ALK aberrations, without disease progression after cCRT or sCRT. Patients were randomised (2:1) to durvalumab 1500 mg or placebo intravenously every 4 weeks (stratified by tumour PD-L1 expression and prior treatment) until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity, or consent withdrawal. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS) by blinded independent central review in the modified intention-to-treat population (mITT). Secondary endpoints included overall survival (OS) in the mITT and safety. The safety analysis set include patients who received at least one dose of study treatment.
Results: Of 407 patients randomised to receive durvalumab (n = 272) or placebo (n = 135), 405 received at least one dose of durvalumab (n = 271) or placebo (n = 134). The mITT comprised 381 patients randomised to durvalumab (n = 252) or placebo (n = 129). Durvalumab showed statistically significant improvement in PFS versus placebo in the mITT (median [95% confidence interval {CI}], 14.0 [10.9-18.0] vs. 6.5 [5.4-13.8] months; hazard ratio [95% CI], 0.75 [0.58-0.99]; p = 0.038). There was a trend toward improved OS with durvalumab versus placebo in the mITT (median [95% CI], 38.3 [28.9-42.8] vs. 32.5 [20.6-40.4] months; hazard ratio [95% CI], 0.87 [0.66-1.17]; p = 0.346 [interim analysis]). Among the safety analysis set, maximum grade 3 or 4 adverse events of any cause occurred in 26.9% (73/271) and 23.9% (32/134) and 1.5% (4/271) and 0% (0/134) had treatment-related adverse events leading to death for durvalumab and placebo, respectively.
Conclusions: PACIFIC-5 met its primary endpoint of improved PFS after either cCRT or sCRT. Follow-up for overall survival is ongoing.
Trial registration: NCT03706690.
Indexed on Europe PMC as PubMed record 41354932 (DOI 10.1186/s13045-025-01768-1). Its abstract cites the registry id NCT03706690, which is how it was matched to this trial; no figure has been checked by an editor.
This is the paper Europe PMC returns for registry id NCT03706690 with the most citations, so it is the natural first reading for anyone following the PACIFIC-5 trial. Read the abstract above alongside the trial page and the registry entry; the record was linked automatically and its figures have not been checked by hand.
- Matched to the trial by the registry id cited in the Europe PMC record; the summary reproduces the record's abstract and no figure has been verified against the full paper.