Dr. Rischin Discusses Cemiplimab in Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Danny Rischin, MD, director, Division of Cancer Medicine, head, Department of Medical Oncology, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, discusses cemiplimab in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC).

In April 2018, the FDA granted a priority review to a biologics license application for the PD-1 inhibitor cemiplimab for the treatment of patients with metastatic CSCC or those with locally advanced CSCC who are not eligible for surgery. This was based on data from the phase II EMPOWER-CSCC 1 study (NCT02760498).

According to findings presented at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting, cemiplimab induced an overall response rate of 47.5% in patients with metastatic CSCC. Additionally, 28 of 59 patients had a response, including 4 (6.8%) partial responses and 24 (40.7%) complete responses at a median follow-up of 7.9 months. The data presented at ASCO were for the cohort of 59 patients with metastatic disease.

The median age of the 59 patients was 71 (range, 38-93), with 43 (73%) patients aged ≥65 years. Most of these patients had been heavily pretreated with radiotherapy or systemic therapy, Rischin noted.