Patient-reported outcomes following pembrolizumab or placebo plus pemetrexed and platinum in patients with previously untreated, metastatic, non-squamous non-small-cell lung cancer (KEYNOTE-189): a multicentre, double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial
Pre-specified analysis (n=604) of ongoing study found addition of pembrolizumab (PB) to standard chemotherapy (CH) maintained global health status/quality of life from baseline to week 12, with improved scores at week 21 in PB +CH group compared with placebo plus CH group.
Source:
The Lancet Oncology
SPS commentary:
A commentary notes that although pembrolizumab added to chemotherapy yields an important survival gain, however, this analysis found no improvement in health related quality of life. Whilst efforts continue to optimise understanding of which patients are best served by initial checkpoint inhibitor therapy with or without chemotherapy, the focus must continue not only on quantity of survival, but also its quality.