Real-world study: Impact of multidisciplinary management of apalutamide-associated adverse events in prostate cancer

ObjectiveTo analyse the adverse events (AEs) associated with apalutamide and the impact of a multidisciplinary team (MDT) protocol on its management at a tertiary care hospital in a real-world setting.MethodsThis was an observational, prospective, cohort study based on real-world evidence at the Hospital Cl & iacute;nic de Barcelona. Includes patients diagnosed with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC) or high-risk nonmetastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (nmCRPC) and who started treatment with apalutamide between May 2019 and March 2023 in a real-world clinical setting.ResultsOf the 121 patients treated with apalutamide, 52.1% experienced an AE, 19.8% experienced temporarily interruption or a reduction in the dose of apalutamide, and 13.2% discontinued treatment due to AEs. Without MDT protocol (49 patients), 24.5% of patients had to temporarily interrupt or reduce the dose of apalutamide due to AEs, with a median time from the start of treatment of 10.1 months, and 24.5% discontinued apalutamide due to AEs, with a median time from the start of treatment of 3.1 months. Meanwhile, whit MDT protocol (72 patients), 16.7% of patients had to temporarily interrupt or reduce the dose of apalutamide due to AEs, with a median time from the start of treatment of 1.6 months, and 5.6% discontinued apalutamide due to AEs, with a median time from the start of treatment of 4 months. The risk reduction associated with treatment discontinuation was statistically significant (p-value = 0.003).ConclusionsThis study highlights the importance of MDT management of AEs associated with apalutamide to reduce treatment discontinuation.