Onkologie 2020: 14(Suppl.G): 171-174 | DOI: 10.36290/xon.2020.099

Long-term control of generalized lung cancer with pembrolizumab

Libor Havel

Pneumologická klinika 1. LF UK, Thomayerova nemocnice, Praha

So far, platinum doublet chemotherapy has been the only treatment option for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. The only exception were patients with EGFR or ALK mutations in whom treatment with the respective tyrosine kinase inhibitors was the method of choice. With the advent of immunotherapy and a number of positive trials performed in higher lines of treatment, interest has shifted to the first line of treatment. The philosophy of this approach has been to offer patients a more effective as well as less toxic treatment, with a clearly prolonged survival. Two trials with pembrolizumab have been conducted comparing pembrolizumab monotherapy with platinum-based doublet treatment: Keynote-024 included strong PD-L1 expressors (over 50% of PD-L1 expression) while Keynote-042 enrolled patients with any PD-L1 expression. Both trials were positive and pembrolizumab was approved by the FDA for use in these indications. We present a case report of one of the first patients treated successfully with pembrolizumab in the first line of treatment.

Keywords: non-small-cell-ling cancer, immunotherapy, pembrolizumab, chemotherapy.

Published: January 8, 2021  Show citation