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Soo Park, MD
Soo Park, MD
Posted: Monday, July 29, 2024
Use of the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab demonstrated durable responses in patients with locally advanced or recurrent or metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma within a follow-up period of 5 years. These findings were presented at the 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting by Eva Muñoz Couselo, MD, PhD, of Hospital Vall d’Hebron and Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology, Barcelona, and colleagues (Abstract 9554).
“Results from this study continue to support the use of pembrolizumab in this patient population,” stated the investigators. “No new safety signals were observed.”
The study focused on data from the phase II KEYNOTE-629 trial and an additional follow-up of 38 months for locally advanced and recurrent or metastatic cohorts. The median follow-up was more than 5 years: 52.4 months for the locally advanced cohort and 64.7 months for the recurrent or metastatic cohorts. Of the 159 patients treated with pembrolizumab, 54 had locally advanced squamous cell skin cancer, and 105 had recurrent or metastatic squamous cell skin cancer.
The overall survival rates at 36-month follow-up were 62% for patients with locally advanced disease, 39.5% for those with recurrent or metastatic disease, and 47% for the total population. The median progression-free survival was 14.4 months for patients with locally advanced disease, 5.7 months for those with recurrent or metastatic disease, and 8 months for the total population.
A total of 11% of patients had a grade 3 to 5 treatment-related adverse effect, and 8.8% of patients had a grade 3 to 5 immune-mediated adverse effect and/or infusion reaction. Two patients reportedly died of a treatment-related adverse effect.
Disclosure: For full disclosures of the study authors, visit coi.asco.org.
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