In a phase 3 randomised, placebo-controlled trial, adjuvant therapy has been shown to improve overall survival in kidney cancer patients for the first time in 50 years.
A review of findings from keynote-564 research reveals that administering pembrolizumab, an immunotherapy medication, to patients with clear-cell renal-cell carcinoma (ccRCC) at high risk of recurrence post-surgery significantly enhanced overall survival. Pembrolizumab reduced the risk of death by 38% compared to a placebo.
"We can now tell our patients that pembrolizumab after surgery not only delays recurrences but also helps them live longer," said the study's lead investigator Toni Choueiri, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Choueiri, director of the Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology at Dana-Farber, is the first author of the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Choueiri previously presented the findings at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Genitourinary Cancer Symposium on January 27, 2024.
The KEYNOTE-564 trial aimed to assess adjuvant pembrolizumab post-nephrectomy (kidney removal) within 12 weeks before randomization. This double-blind, phase 3 study, conducted at numerous international sites, involved 994 patients randomised to receive pembrolizumab every three weeks for approximately a year or a placebo.Pembrolizumab targets a molecular pathway that cancer cells commandeer to evade attack by the body's immune system. By blocking this "checkpoint" pathway, the drug helps free the immune system's army of T cells to combat tumours
