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Keynote-689 Trial Finds Pembrolizumab Doubles Disease-Free Survival in Head and Neck Cancer

Presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting, the global study offers regulators data on pembrolizumab’s performance following its demonstration of five-year remission with reduced metastatic risk.

Laura Marston, 45, said that the treatment “has given me the gift of life”
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Overview

  • The Phase III Keynote-689 trial enrolled 714 patients across 192 sites in 24 countries to evaluate pembrolizumab in newly diagnosed, locally advanced head and neck cancer.
  • Patients receiving pembrolizumab saw median disease-free survival extend to five years, compared with 2.5 years under the current standard of surgery and radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy.
  • After three years, the risk of cancer spreading elsewhere in the body was reduced by 10% among those treated with pembrolizumab.
  • Pembrolizumab enhances immune response by blocking PD-L1 on T cells to help the body recognise and attack cancer cells more effectively.
  • These findings represent the first major advance in first-line head and neck cancer care in over two decades as regulators consider approving the treatment for this earlier setting.