Dr. Choueiri on the Efficacy of Post-Nephrectomy, Adjuvant Pembrolizumab in RCC

Toni K. Choueiri, MD, director of the Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology, director of the Kidney Cancer Center, and senior physician at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, as well as the Jerome and Nancy Kohlberg chair and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, discusses the efficacy of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) as a post-nephrectomy adjuvant therapy for patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) from the phase 3 KEYNOTE-564 trial (NCT03142334).

According to the results of the study, which were presented at the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting, pembrolizumab reduced the risk of recurrence or death by 32%, Choueiri says. The hazard ratio (HR) for disease-free survival was 0.68, which was statistically significant and clinically relevant, according to Choueiri.

Additionally, the study had key secondary end points that included overall survival (OS), and safety, Choueiri notes. While data for OS are still immature and did not meet statistical significance, as not enough events occurred, the HR was 0.54, which is encouraging, Choueiri adds. As such, follow-up will continue for this end point, Choueiri concludes.