Pembrolizumab Shows Survival Benefit for Patients With Renal Cancer
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, Jan. 31, 2024 -- For patients with clear-cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), overall survival (OS) is improved for those receiving pembrolizumab versus placebo at a median follow-up of about 57 months, according to a study presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, held from Jan. 25 to 27 in San Francisco.
Toni Choueiri, M.D., from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, and colleagues randomly allocated 994 adults with histologically confirmed ccRCC to receive pembrolizumab 200 mg or placebo intravenously every three weeks for ≥17 cycles (about one year) or until disease recurrence, intolerable toxicity, or withdrawal of consent (496 and 498 patients, respectively). The primary end point was disease-free survival (DFS) by investigator assessment; OS was a key secondary end point. Results from the third prespecified interim analysis with a median follow-up of about 57 months were reported.
The researchers found that OS improved significantly with pembrolizumab versus placebo (medians not reached; hazard ratio, 0.62). There were 55 and 86 OS events in the pembrolizumab and placebo arms, respectively. At 48 months, the estimated OS rate was 91.2 and 86.0 percent with pembrolizumab and placebo, respectively. Across key subgroups, there was an OS benefit observed, including in patients with M0 disease (hazard ratio, 0.63). For pembrolizumab versus placebo, the observed DFS was consistent with that of prior interim analyses (hazard ratio, 0.72). There were no new safety signals.
"We can now tell our patients that pembrolizumab after surgery not only delays recurrences but also helps them live longer," Choueiri said in a statement.
Several authors disclosed ties to pharmaceutical companies, including Merck, which manufactures pembrolizumab and funded the study.
Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.
© 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Posted January 2024
Read this next
GWAS Identifies 108 Independent Risk Loci for Kidney Cancer
THURSDAY, May 2, 2024 -- A genome-wide association study meta-analysis, published online April 26 in Nature Genetics, has identified 63 susceptibility regions containing 108...
Improvement Seen in Survival With Adjuvant Pembrolizumab in Kidney Cancer
THURSDAY, April 18, 2024 -- For patients with clear-cell renal cell carcinoma, adjuvant pembrolizumab is associated with a significant and clinically meaningful improvement in...
Survival Improved With Everolimus in High-Risk Clear Cell Renal Cancer
MONDAY, Oct. 23, 2023 -- For patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC) at very high risk for recurrence, adjuvant everolimus is associated with significantly improved...
More news resources
- FDA Medwatch Drug Alerts
- Daily MedNews
- News for Health Professionals
- New Drug Approvals
- New Drug Applications
- Drug Shortages
- Clinical Trial Results
- Generic Drug Approvals
Subscribe to our newsletter
Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.