Merck’s Pembro plus Chemoradiotherapy demonstrated encouraging PFS benefits in newly diagnosed Cervical Cancer

CAR-T Digest - August 2020

19 Jul 2023: KEYTRUDA (Pembrolizumab) / Newly diagnosed cervical cancer/ Merck: Phase 3 KEYNOTE-A18 trial met the primary endpoints of PFS

Phase 3 KEYNOTE-A18 trial evaluating Pembro + chemoradiotherapy met one of its primary endpoints of PFS in patients with newly diagnosed high-risk locally advanced cervical cancer
Pembro + concurrent chemoradiotherapy demonstrated statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in PFS versus concurrent chemoradiotherapy alone in these patients
- However, the data were not mature at the time of this interim analysis and the trial is continuing and follow-up of OS is ongoing
The toxicity profile of pembrolizumab was found to be consistent with what has previously been reported with the immunotherapy, no new safety signals observed
“These results are very encouraging and support the use of pembrolizumab combined with the current standard of care in locally advanced cervical cancer to help address the need for new treatment options beyond chemoradiotherapy alone.” said Prof. Domenica Lorusso, the study’s overall principal investigator, lead investigator for ENGOT, and associate professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Catholic University of Rome