A Randomized, Multicenter Pragmatic Trial Comparing Bone Pain From a Single Dose of Pegfilgrastim to 5 Doses of Daily Filgrastim in Breast Cancer Patients Receiving Neoadjuvant/Adjuvant Chemotherapy

The use of granulocyte colony-stimulating factors (G-CSF) significantly reduces febrile neutropenia (FN) risk and has helped maintain dose intensity and dose density when treating breast cancer with chemotherapy. This is crucial as survival outcomes are significantly impaired if dose intensity are reduced. National and international guidelines recommend the use of G-CSF as primary prophylaxis with most commonly used breast cancer chemotherapy regimens. Filgrastim (FIL) as a G-CSF that has been in use since the early 90s. Pegfilgrastim (PEG) is a long-acting, pegylated version of FIL that requires only one injection per chemotherapy cycle instead of daily FIL injections for 5 to 10 days per cycle. PEG and FIL both come at the potential cost of bone pain, the most common side effect. G-CSF related bone pain is often severe, leading to refusal or cancellation of G-CSF and early discontinuation of chemotherapy. We propose to perform a pragmatic, multicenter, open-label, randomized clinical trial to compare bone pain experienced by patients receiving either PEG or 5-day-FIL with neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy.

Inclusion criteria

• Patients with early-stage or locally-advanced breast cancer receiving neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy requiring primary febrile neutropenia prophylaxis with G-CSF
• Able to provide verbal consent
• Able to complete questionnaires in English or French

Exclusion criteria

• No access to pegfilgrastim or filgrastim prior to randomization
• Metastatic cancer
• Known hypersensitivity to filgrastim or pegfilgrastim or one of its components