Latest Keytruda Approval Promising for Mesothelioma Patients

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded its approval of pembrolizumab for first-line treatment of metastatic non-small cell lung cancer last week, moving it closer to becoming a viable treatment option for patients with pleural mesothelioma. Pembrolizumab is marketed by Merck & Co. under the brand name Keytruda. It helps the body’s immune system detect and destroy cancer cells. The FDA approved its first-line use in combination with pemetrexed and carboplatin, two chemotherapy agents used regularly for mesothelioma. Pembrolizumab, the most well-known immunotherapy drug, is being studied for use with various cancers in more than 400 clinical trials worldwide, including 10 for mesothelioma but none in combination with chemotherapy. The FDA previously approved its use for melanoma, head and neck cancers and Hodgkin lymphoma. First FDA Approval with Chemotherapy Before last week’s expansion, pembrolizumab was approved for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but only as a single agent and only with tumors that expressed the PD-L1 protein. That protein is found in many cancers, but only in half of mesothelioma patients. This was the first approval as part of a chemotherapy combination and the first without a need for PD-L1 expression. “Now that there is clinical evidence the combination is effective in a common malignancy like lung cancer, the next logical step is to test it in other cancer types, including rare ones like mesothelioma,” Dr. Raymond Wong,...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: carboplatin chemotherapy for mesothelioma Dr. Raymond Wong Dr. Tawee Tanvetyanon FDA approval Keytruda first line treatment for mesothelioma Hodgkin lymphoma jimmy carter keytruda clinical trial keytruda for mesothelioma melanoma Mer Source Type: news