Pembrolizumab: New standard of care in head and neck cancer
Source: www.medscape.com Author: Roxanne Nelson, RN, BSN Immunotherapy with pembrolizumab (Keytruda, Merck & Co), either as monotherapy or in combination with chemotherapy, offers a new standard of care for patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), say experts discussing the results from the company-sponsored KEYNOTE-48 trial. Pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy yielded a significant survival benefit in comparison with standard therapy for both the total patient population and for patients whose tumors were positive for programmed cell death–ligand-1 (PD-L1). Monotherapy with pembrolizumab yielded a significant overall survival benefit for patients with tumors that were PD-L1 positive; and in the total study population, overall survival was noninferior. "Thus, pembrolizumab monotherapy is a new standard of care, first-line therapy option for patients with PD-L1-positive recurrent or metastatic HNSCC. Pembrolizumab with chemotherapy is also a new option for all patients, regardless of PD-L1 status," comment Robert L. Ferris, MD, PhD, from the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Lisa Licitra MD, from the University of Milan, Italy, in a commentary that accompanies article in the Lancet. "The positive results of KEYNOTE-048 represent substantial progress for patients with recurrent or metastatic HNSCC," Ferris and Licitria add. These comments echo the reactions from experts when the study was presented earlier this year at the annual meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO), as reported by Medscape Medical News at that time. Presenter Danny Rischin, MD, from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Center, Melbourne, Australia, said: "These data support pembrolizumab plus platinum-based CT [...]