Dr. Bauml on KEYNOTE-055 Study for Patients With HNSCC

Joshua M. Bauml, MD, assistant professor of Medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the Veteran's Administration Medical Center, discusses the preliminary results of the KEYNOTE-055 study, which investigated pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) after failure on platinum-based therapy and cetuximab (Erbitux).

This patient population currently has very few options, as there are no available agents that demonstrate clinical activity, Bauml explains. Methotrexate, for example, has an approximate overall response rate (ORR) of 5% and an overall survival (OS) rate of 6 months, demonstrating an unmet need for this subgroup.

In KEYNOTE-055, in which 84% of patients received 2 or more prior therapies, pembrolizumab was well tolerated and was also associated with an ORR of 17-18%. The median OS was 8 months, Bauml adds.