What type of cancer is it used for?

Official answer

by Drugs.com

Pembrolizumab (brand name: Keytruda) is a prescription immunotherapy drug used to treat many different types of cancer in adults and children. Adult uses include:

In April 2020 Keytruda was also approved for adults at a dosing regimen of 400 mg every 6 weeks, in addition to 200 mg every 3 weeks.

See: Keytruda (pembrolizumab) dosing (in more detail)

Keytruda is also approved to treat various types of cancers in children, such as:

Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) from Merck was first approved in September 2014, and since that time over 19 new indications have been approved. Pembrolizumab is currently being evaluated in close to 500 clinical trials evaluating various cancers, according to the NIH. Ongoing investigational studies for new uses for pembrolizumab include:

Other new uses for Keytruda treatment will most likely be approved by the FDA over time.

How effective is pembrolizumab in cancer treatment?

Some, but not all people, have a very positive response with checkpoint inhibitors like pembrolizumab and achieve remission. For some patients, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) can be used as a first-line treatment or combined with medicines after their diagnosis.

How well pembrolizumab works for an individual patient will be based on many factors, including:

In some patients, tumors have regressed and disappeared with checkpoint inhibitors. Some patients have extended their survival for years. But this does not necessarily mean they are "cured", that the cancer won't return, or that everyone will respond. Talk to your doctor about how well pembrolizumab may work for you and your specific type of cancer.

Clinical studies can give you an idea how well a treatment can work for a disease and are the gold standard for drug approvals. But one study cannot give you an overall picture of how well your treatment might work. Results can be variable and cancer treatment is very individual. There are many studies done in all of the various cancers that pembrolizumab is approved to treat. It's important to discuss your expected treatment outcomes with your doctor.

Here are examples of study results looking at the effectiveness of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in three different cancers: advanced melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer and Hodgkin lymphoma.

Advanced Melanoma

The first cancer that pembrolizumab (Keytruda) was approved for was advanced melanoma, a type of serious skin cancer that cannot be surgically removed or has spread in the body.

Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC)

Pembrolizumab was studied in patients with advanced NSCLC (when used alone as a first treatment) and was compared to treatment with a platinum-containing chemotherapy. All patients tested positive for the biomarker PD-L1 at a level of 50% or more.

Longer term (5-year) study results (from the KEYNOTE-024 study) are now available for pembrolizumab (Keytruda) treatment of advanced NSCLC. Data published in 2020 shows that at 5 years, the overall survival rate was twice as high for patients who received pembrolizumab (31.9%) when compared to a chemotherapy (16.3%) regimen. Pembrolizumab also reduced the risk of death by 38% versus chemotherapy (a median overall survival of 26.3 versus 13.4 months).

Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma (cHL)

Pembrolizumab was studied in patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) whose treatment did not work or whose cancer had returned after 3 or more types of treatment. Some patients had already received a stem cell transplant. Patients received 200 mg of Keytruda every 3 weeks.

Bottom Line

This is not all the information you need to know about pembrolizumab (brand name: Keytruda) for safe and effective use. Review the full pembrolizumab (Keytruda) product information here, and discuss this information with your doctor or other health care provider.