PembrolizumabThe FDA has now expanded the approved indications for pembrolizumab (KEYTRUDA®, Merck Sharp & Dohme) to include both adult patients with relapsed or refractory classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) and pediatric patients with refractory cHL, or cHL that has relapsed after two or more lines of therapy. The approval was based on efficacy data from the open-label phase 3 KEYNOTE-204 trial (NCT02684292), for which 304 adult patients with cHL previously treated with at least one multiagen...

In advanced gastric cancer and gastroesophageal junction cancer, treatment options remain limited. Results of the phase 3 CheckMate 649 and phase 2/3 ATTRACTION-4 studies, both of which investigated chemotherapy with or without nivolumab in patients with previously untreated unresectable, advanced, or recurrent gastric/gastroesophageal junction (G/GEJ) cancer, were recently presented at the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) Virtual Congress 2020. CheckMate 649 reported significant impr...

Nivolumab/ipilimumab demonstrates efficacy in patients with melanoma and brain metastases, according to results of the primary analysis of the phase 3 NIBIT-M2 trial, presented at the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) Virtual Congress 2020. "Brain metastases represent a high unmet medical need, in which the therapeutic potential of immune-checkpoint(s) is being actively investigated," note the investigators in their presentation abstract, led by Anna Di Giacomo, MD, Associate Director ...

Gastric or gastroesophageal junction (G/GEJ) cancer constitutes the third leading cause of cancer death worldwide, and more therapeutic options are needed. In results from the phase 3 KEYNOTE-062 study, published last week in JAMA Oncology, Kohei Shitara, MD, and colleagues reported that in patients with previously untreated G/GEJ cancer with a programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) combined positive score (CPS) of 1 or greater, pembrolizumab, alone or in combination with chemotherapy, was nonin...

Data from the phase 3 KEYNOTE-062 trial have revealed that in patients with advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction (G/GEJ) cancer with a programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) combined positive score (CPS) of 1 or greater, first-line pembrolizumab, alone or in combination with chemotherapy, is noninferior but not superior to chemotherapy alone. In patients with a PD-L1 CPS of 10 or greater, pembrolizumab monotherapy showed a possible benefit, but one that cannot be considered definitive o...