{"id":501794,"date":"2024-01-30T11:54:18","date_gmt":"2024-01-30T16:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/platohealth.ai\/immunotherapy-drug-achieves-trial-first-in-fifty-years\/"},"modified":"2024-01-30T16:05:14","modified_gmt":"2024-01-30T21:05:14","slug":"immunotherapy-drug-achieves-trial-first-in-fifty-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/platohealth.ai\/immunotherapy-drug-achieves-trial-first-in-fifty-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Immunotherapy drug achieves trial-first in fifty years","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"
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Major findings from a Phase III trial show that using immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab post-surgery extended survival and delayed disease recurrence in kidney cancer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n\"pembrolizumab\"pembrolizumab<\/div>\n

Results from a Phase III, randomised, placebo-controlled clinical trial have for the first time in fifty years, demonstrated an overall survival benefit from an adjuvant therapy in kidney cancer. Pembrolizumab targets a \u201ccheckpoint\u201d pathway that is key in enabling cancer cells to avoid being destroyed by the immune system. As a result, the immunotherapy drug<\/a> supports the immune system\u2019s T cells fight tumours, the researchers highlighted.<\/p>\n

Treatment with pembrolizumab post-surgery was associated with a 38 percent reduction in risk of death compared with placebo in patients with clear-cell renal-cell carcinoma (ccRCC) at high risk for recurrence. This finding is based on analysis from the KEYNOTE-564 clinical trial<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The KEYNOTE-564 study aimed to evaluate adjuvant pembrolizumab following nephrectomy within 12 weeks prior to randomisation, according to the team.<\/p>\n

The study enrolled 994 patients internationally, who were randomised to pembrolizumab once every three weeks for approximately a year, or a placebo.<\/p>\n

Further results from the pembrolizumab study<\/h2>\n

In the first interim analysis of the KEYNOTE-564 study, it was reported that adjuvant pembrolizumab improved disease-free survival in those with kidney cancer who were at high risk of relapse.<\/p>\n

Based on data from the third interim analysis, completed after a median of 57.2 months of follow up, adjuvant pembrolizumab was found to \u201csignificantly\u201d prolong overall survival when compared to placebo.<\/p>\n

Importance of the findings<\/h2>\n

Prior to the approval of pembrolizumab as adjuvant treatment for patients with kidney cancer in 2021, which were based the KEYNOTE-564 results, there was no widely available accepted standard of care for ccRCC after treatment with surgery.<\/p>\n

With adjuvant pembrolizumab now standard of care for these patients, the researchers confirmed that they are investigating if this treatment can be improved by combining pembrolizumab with the HIF-2 inhibitor belzutifan.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince 1973, more than 12,000 patients with kidney cancer participated in adjuvant studies versus a control arm and none of the studies showed the experimental arm extends lives until now with the KEYNOTE-564 study,\u201d stated Dr Toni Choueiri, Director of the Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. \u201cWe showed pembrolizumab extends survival. It does not only delay recurrence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Findings from the  study were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Genitourinary Cancer Symposium in January 2024.<\/p>\n

The study of the immunotherapy drug was funded by Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, a subsidiary of Merck & Co.<\/p>\n

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MSD and Nectin to collaborate on clinical trial for KEYTRUDA\u00ae combination<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Related topics<\/h3>\n

Big Pharma<\/a>, Biologics<\/a>, Biopharmaceuticals<\/a>, Clinical Development<\/a>, Clinical Trials<\/a>, Data Analysis<\/a>, Drug Development<\/a>, Drug Safety<\/a>, Immunotherapy<\/a>, Industry Insight<\/a>, Research & Development (R&D)<\/a>, t-cells<\/a>, Therapeutics<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n