The KEYNOTE – 671 Study

In this conversation at the ESMO Congress 2023 in Madrid, Mariana Brandão, a medical oncologist at the Jules Bordet Institute, and Lore Decoster, medical oncologist at the University Hospital Brussels, discuss important findings related to lung cancer, particularly the KEYNOTE-671 trial involving perioperative pembrolizumab for resectable non-small cell lung cancer.

The KEYNOTE-671 trial revealed significant overall survival benefits when adding pembrolizumab to chemotherapy for resectable non-small cell lung cancer. The survival benefit appeared to increase over time, promising long-term outcomes. However, the trial had limitations, including the use of cisplatin-based therapy and primarily including stage 3 patients.

Subgroup analysis indicated that older patients and PD-L1-negative patients benefited less from the treatment. The question of which patients should receive one year of adjuvant pembrolizumab remains unanswered, particularly for those who achieved a pathological complete response with neoadjuvant chemo-immunotherapy.

The conversation also touched on the challenge of selecting the appropriate chemotherapy regimen based on patient fitness.

The discussion underscored the complexities of lung cancer treatment strategies and the need for ongoing research to refine treatment guidelines, especially with the emergence of immunotherapy as a promising approach.

Reference:

Jonathan Spicer – Overall survival in the KEYNOTE-671 study of perioperative pembrolizumab for early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC)- ESMO 2023? # LBA56