VIDEO: Pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy yields OS benefit in triple-negative breast cancer
In this video, Sara M. Tolaney, MD, MPH, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, discusses overall survival data from KEYNOTE-355 presented at the virtual ESMO Congress.
KEYNOTE-355 has already demonstrated PFS improvement, but “what we were all waiting for was the overall survival data where we were hoping that adding pembrolizumab (Keytruda, Merck) to chemotherapy would not just improve PFS but would also improve OS — and we were not disappointed,” Tolaney said. The data showed that adding pembrolizumab to chemotherapy extended overall survival in patients with PD-L1-positive metastatic triple-negative breast cancer.
“I think these data really confirm that the use of pembrolizumab and chemotherapy should be a standard option in our patients with metastatic PD-L1-positive, triple-negative disease,” she said.
Some benefits of the trial includedallowing patients who could have early relapse as well as letting patients choose their chemotherapy, which is “convenient and critical” because many patients get multiple chemotherapy agents when treated in the early disease setting, according to Tolaney. However, she noted further research is needed for the small subset of patients who had early relapse, as they seemed to derive less benefit in PFS and OS.
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Rugo H, et al. Abstract LBA16. Presented at: European Society for Medical Oncology Congress (virtual meeting); Sept. 16-21, 2021.