Overall survival higher in group receiving pembrolizumab plus chemo versus chemotherapy alone<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter<\/b><\/p>\n
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THURSDAY, Sept. 19, 2024 (HealthDay News) — For patients with early-stage triple-negative breast cancer, neoadjuvant pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy followed by adjuvant pembrolizumab yields a significant improvement in overall survival compared with neoadjuvant chemotherapy alone, according to a study published online Sept. 15 in the New England Journal of Medicine<\/em> to coincide with the annual meeting of the European Society for Medical Oncology, held from Sept. 13 to 17 in Barcelona, Spain.<\/p>\n Peter Schmid, M.D., from the Barts Cancer Institute at Queen Mary University of London, and colleagues randomly assigned patients with previously untreated stage II or III triple-negative breast cancer to receive neoadjuvant therapy with four cycles of pembrolizumab or placebo plus paclitaxel and carboplatin, followed by four cycles of pembrolizumab or placebo plus doxorubicin-cyclophosphamide or epirubicin-cyclophosphamide. After definitive surgery, patients received adjuvant pembrolizumab (pembrolizumab-chemotherapy group; 784 patients) or placebo (placebo-chemotherapy group; 390 patients) for up to nine cycles. Patients were followed for a median of 75.1 months to the data-cutoff date of March 22, 2024.<\/p>\n The researchers found that at 60 months, the estimated overall survival was 86.6 and 81.7 percent in the pembrolizumab-chemotherapy and placebo-chemotherapy groups, respectively. Adverse events were consistent with established safety profiles.<\/p>\n “These results provide further support for pembrolizumab plus neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by adjuvant pembrolizumab as treatment for high-risk, early-stage triple-negative breast cancer,” the authors write.<\/p>\n Several authors disclosed ties to pharmaceutical companies, including Merck, which manufactures pembrolizumab and funded the study.<\/p>\n Abstract\/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)<\/a><\/p>\n