pembrolizumab

  • September 6, 2022  

    ‘Clinically Meaningful’ Improvement in SCLC Patients With Pembrolizumab/Chemo Combo Bookmark

    George Lundberg, MD

    As reported by MedPage Today, long-term results from a clinical trial suggest that a combination of the drug pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy is better than chemo alone for small cell lung cancer (SCLC). But unfortunately, most patients who received the combo did not benefit significantly, and biomarkers are very much needed to identify patients whose cancers will respond well.

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  • August 5, 2022  

    Summary of Kidney Cancer Highlights from ASCO GU 2022 Bookmark

    George Lundberg, MD

    This article from the International Kidney Cancer Coalition (IKCC) outlines updates on treatment options for renal cell carcinoma as presented at the 2022 American Society of Clinical Oncology Genitourinary (ASCO GU) Symposium.

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  • March 8, 2022  

    New Clinical Trial Results for Pembrolizumab in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Bookmark

    George Lundberg, MD

    As reported in the medical research journal The Lancet, adding the drug pembrolizimab (Keytruda) to chemotherapy increased progression-free survival—both clinically and statistically—for clinical trial participants with advanced breast cancer.

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  • January 31, 2022  

    NCCN Guidelines for Patients: Cervical Cancer Bookmark

    George Lundberg, MD

    The nonprofit National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) publishes guidelines for patients to learn more about their diagnosis and their treatment options. Here is their 2022 update for cervical cancer.

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  • July 14, 2021  

    What’s New in Melanoma Treatment in 2021?

    Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    I last wrote about melanoma treatment more than 2 years ago, a fairly long time in the evolution of treatments for this type of cancer. Just as a refresher, the current mainstays of drugs to treat melanoma fall into two categories: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI), antibody drugs that bind to proteins found on the immune system’s T cells—namely, PD-1 (which is targeted by the… Read more »

  • April 28, 2021  

    How Can Detection of Tumor DNA in the Blood Aid Advanced Cancer Treatment?

    With: Alexey Aleshin, MD, MBAPaul Billings, MD, PhD

    As a tumor grows, it may shed fragments of its DNA into the patient’s bloodstream. After treatment, if part of the tumor remains or it begins to grow again, more of this circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) may enter the blood. That raises the possibility that detecting ctDNA could help clinicians monitor molecular or minimal residual disease—cancer that remains after treatment and cannot be detected… Read more »

  • April 12, 2021  

    Lenvatinib/Pembrolizumab Improves Survival in Advanced Endometrial Cancer Bookmark

    George Lundberg, MD

    The ASCO Post reports on new results from a clinical trial testing a combination of the drugs lenvatinib and pembrolizumab in people with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer. The results show that, compared to standard chemotherapy, this drug combo improves both overall and progression-free survival—according to both statistical and clinical analysis.

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  • November 24, 2020  

    For Esophageal Cancer, Immunotherapy Likely to Play Larger Role Bookmark

    George Lundberg, MD

    A blog post from the National Cancer Institute reports that two clinical trials are showing encouraging results for progression-free survival—and one for overall survival—from treatment with immunotherapy drugs in people with advanced esophageal cancer. 

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  • August 15, 2020  

    Pembrolizumab Provides Long-Term Benefit in Melanoma, Regardless of BRAF+ Status or Prior Targeted Therapy Bookmark

    George Lundberg, MD

    Article from OncLive curated by Editor in Chief George Lundberg, MD, who notes: 

    A new study shows that the drug pembrolizomab significantly prolongs survival in patients with metastatic melanoma, regardless of whether their tumors have mutations in the BRAF gene or if they’ve had prior treatment with targeted therapy.

    Go to full article published by OncLive.

    If you’re wondering whether this story applies to your own cancer case or a loved one’s, we invite you to get support from Cancer Commons.

  • August 7, 2020  

    FDA Approves Merck’s Keytruda, Foundation Medicine CDx for TMB-High Solid Tumors Bookmark

    George Lundberg, MD

    Article from GenomeWeb curated by Editor in Chief George Lundberg, MD, who notes: 

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the drug pembrolizumab (brand name Keytruda) for solid tumors based solely on whether they have a high tumor mutational burden—a high number of changes in the DNA of the cancer cells.

    Go to full article published by GenomeWeb.

    If you’re wondering whether this story applies to your own cancer case or a loved one’s, we invite you to get support from Cancer Commons.