Real-world Treatment Patterns Among Patients With Colorectal Cancer Treated With Trifluridine/Tipiracil and Regorafenib

Real-world data comparing the treatment patterns of trifluridine/tipiracil (FTD/TPI) and regorafenib (REG) in refractory metastatic colorectal cancer patients are lacking or insufficient. The present study evaluated the real-world treatment patterns using a large-scale, nationally representative US claims database. Our results suggest that metastatic colorectal cancer patients initiating FTD/TPI will have better adherence and compliance than patients initiating REG. Trifluridine/tipiracil (FTD/TPI) and regorafenib (REG) prolong survival in refractory metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) and have similar indications with different side-effect profiles. The present study compared real-world treatment patterns with FTD/TPI and REG for mCRC in a large, representative US claims database. Retrospective data from the US Symphony Health Solutions’ Integrated Dataverse database were analyzed for adult mCRC patients receiving FTD/TPI or REG from October 2014 to July 2016. The index date was the first FTD/TPI or REG prescription date. The observation period spanned from the index date to the end of data collection, end of continuous clinical activity, or treatment switch. Adherence was assessed using the medication possession ratio and proportion of days covered at 3 months. The time to discontinuation was assessed over the observation period with gaps of 45, 60, or 90 days. Outcomes were compared between the cohorts using logistic regression and Cox proportional hazards models adjusting for baseline characteristic differences. A total of 1630 FTD/TPI patients and 1425 REG patients were identified. The FTD/TPI patients were 80% more likely to have a medication possession ratio of ≥ 0.80 compared with the REG patients (odds ratio, 1.80; P < .001) and more than twice as likely to have a proportion of days covered of ≥ 0.80 (odds ratio, 2.66; P < .001) at 3 months. The FTD/TPI patients were 37% less likely to discontinue their treatment compared with the REG patients when using the 60-day gap (hazard ratio, 0.63; P < .001). Similar results were found using the 45- and 90-day gaps. mCRC patients taking FTD/TPI were significantly more likely to adhere to and comply with therapy compared with those taking REG.