| The following article features coverage from the IASLC 18th World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) in Yokohama, Japan. Click here to read more of Cancer Therapy Advisor‘s conference coverage. |
Evidence is building that overall survival (OS) among patients with advanced non-squamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is prolonged by pembrolizumab plus pemetrexed and carboplatin compared with pemetrexed and carboplatin alone, according to a study presented at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) 18th Annual World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) in Japan.1
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In the phase 1/2 KEYNOTE-021 study (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02039674), researchers randomly assigned 123 patients with NSCLC to receive pemetrexed and carboplatin with or without pembrolizumab as first-line therapy. Initial analysis of cohort G at a median of 10.6 months showed that pembrolizumab significantly improved overall response rate (ORR) and progression-free survival (PFS).
The median follow-up was 18.7 months for this analysis. Patients who received pembrolizumab plus pemetrexed and carboplatin had an ORR of 57% vs 32% among patients who did not receive pembrolizumab (estimated difference 25%; 95% CI, 7%-41%; P = .0029). PFS was significantly prolonged for patients who received pembrolizumab, with a median of 19.0 months (95% CI, 8.5-not reached [NR]), vs 8.9 months (95% CI, 6.2-11.8) for patients who received pemetrexed and carboplatin alone (HR, 0.54; 95% CI, 0.33-0.88; P = .0067).
Patients who received pembrolizumab plus pemetrexed and carboplatin did not reach a median OS (95% CI, 22.8-NR) compared with 20.9 months (95% CI, 14.9-NR) among patients who received pemetrexed and carboplatin alone (HR, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.34-1.05; P = .0344).
Grade 3 to 5 adverse events were reported by 41% of patients who received pembrolizumab compared with 29% who received pemetrexed and carboplatin alone.
Read more of Cancer Therapy Advisor‘s coverage of the IASLC 18th World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) by visiting the conference page.
Reference
- Borghaei H, Langer CJ, Gadgeel SM, et al. Pemetrexed-carboplatin plus pembrolizumab as first-line therapy for advanced nonsquamous NSCLC: KEYNOTE-021 cohort G update. Presented at: International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer 18th World Conference on Lung Cancer; October 2017; Yokohama, Japan. Abstract OA 17.01.
