Real-world drug utilization and treatment patterns in patients with tenosynovial giant cell tumors in the USA
Creators: name: Dharmani, Charles
name: Fofah, Oluwatosin
name: Wang, Eric
name: Salas, Maribel
name: Wooddell, Margaret
name: Tu, Nora
name: Tse, Jenny
name: Near, Aimee
name: Tinoco, Gabriel
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: Medicine
subject: Pharmacology
subject: Ecology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Cancer
subject: Science Policy
subject: Infectious Diseases
subject: FOS: Health sciences

description: <b>Aim:</b> Real-world treatment patterns in tenosynovial giant cell tumor (TGCT) patients remain unknown. Pexidartinib is the only US FDA-approved treatment for TGCT associated with severe morbidity or functional limitations and not amenable to improvement with surgery. <b>Objective:</b> To characterize drug utilization and treatment patterns in TGCT patients. <b>Methods:</b> In a retrospective observational study using IQVIA's linked prescription and medical claims databases (2018–2021), TGCT patients were stratified by their earliest systemic therapy claim (pexidartinib [N = 82] or non-FDA-approved systemic therapy [N = 263]). <b>Results:</b> TGCT patients treated with pexidartinib versus non-FDA-approved systemic therapies were predominantly female (61 vs 50.6%) and their median age was 47 and 54 years, respectively. Pexidartinib-treated patients had the highest 12-month probability of remaining on treatment (54%); 34.1% of pexidartinib users had dose reduction after their first claim. <b>Conclusion:</b> This study provides new insights into the unmet need, utilization and treatment patterns of systemic therapies for the treatment of TGCT patients. <b>Treatment patterns in patients with tenosynovial giant cell tumors in the USA</b> This database study is the first investigation of how drugs are used to treat patients with tenosynovial giant cell tumor (TGCT) in the real world. We researched adult TGCT patients from IQVIA's prescription and medical claims databases who started treatment with pexidartinib (N = 82) or other non-US FDA-approved systemic therapies (N = 263). The patients included in this analysis were mostly women (61.0 and 50.6%) and their median age was 47 and 54 years for pexidartinib and other non-FDA-approved systemic therapies, respectively. The patients treated with pexidartinib were most likely to remain on treatment (54.0%) at the end of the first year. Most patients (79.3%) started pexidartinib treatment at a total daily dose of 800 mg/day, as per the product label. Only 34.1% of patients had reduced medication dose during follow-up. Of note, this study found that TGCT patients were treated with other systemic therapies which remain unproven to be safe and effective in medical studies of TGCT. Given the unmet need, and with pexidartinib being the only approved systemic treatment in USA, there is an opportunity for the larger population of adult TGCT patients to benefit from its use. Further research is needed to identify barriers for access to pexidartinib and treatment of TGCT patients. Tenosynovial giant cell tumor (TGCT) is a rare, locally aggressive neoplasm affecting the synovial membrane lining joints, bursae and tendon sheaths. Pexidartinib is currently the only systemic treatment approved by the US FDA for the treatment of adult patients with symptomatic TGCT associated with severe morbidity or functional limitations and not amenable to improvement with surgery. Other systemic therapies have been investigated in clinical studies of TGCT patients, none of them have been approved by the FDA for the treatment of TGCT specifically. Using a real-world claims database, this study characterized TGCT patients newly treated with pexidartinib or other unapproved systemic treatments and described their treatment patterns, including treatment duration and dosing. In this study, we found that although the median duration of pexidartinib treatment was not reached, patients on pexidartinib had the highest 12-month probability of remaining on treatment. Dose reductions after the first medication claim were commonly observed in the pexidartinib cohort (34.1%) and some patients (9.8%) had evidence of dose increase. Dose levels of the non-FDA-approved systemic therapies were consistent with the recommended dosages for other indications, as per their label, none of which were TGCT. As expected, 63.6–82.9% of TGCT patients treated with non-FDA-approved systemic therapies discontinued treatment at 12 months. This study provided novel insights into how systemic therapies for TGCT are used in real-world clinical practice, where surgery has been the standard of care. Given the large unmet need for the treatment of TGCT patients, and as pexidartinib is the only regulatory-approved systemic treatment, there is opportunity for its wider use in this patient population.