Dr. Robinson on the Updated Results of the KEYNOTE-407 Trial in Squamous NSCLC

Andrew G. Robinson, MD, MSc, FRCPC, associate professor, Department of Oncology, Queen’s University School of Medicine, attending staff, Kingston General Hospital, attending staff, Hotel Dieu Hospital, discusses the updated results of the phase 3 KEYNOTE-407 trial in squamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

During the 2021 European Lung Cancer Virtual Congress, updated findings from the KEYNOTE-407 trial were presented, demonstrating sustained and durable benefit with the combination of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) and chemotherapy vs chemotherapy alone without additional toxicity. At a median of 40.1 months from randomization to data cutoff, the median overall survival (OS) was 17.2 months with pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy vs 11.6 months with chemotherapy alone. The 3-year OS rates were 29.7% vs 18.2%, respectively.

These findings confirm that the addition of pembrolizumab to frontline chemotherapy induces prolonged survival benefit at 3 years in patients with metastatic squamous NSCLC, concludes Robinson.