Keytruda Shows Promise in Patients with Merkel Cell Carcinoma, A Rare Form of Skin Cancer

April 19, 2016

KEYTRUDA is a medicine that contains the humanized antibody pembrolizumab and it treats cancer types such as melanoma and lung cancer by working with the immune system. A new study showed that more than half of the patients responded to a rare but aggressive form of skin cancer known as Merkel cell carcinoma.

It was a small clinical trial in which 26 patients were given the treatment with pembrolizumab and the objective response rate among the 25 patients who could be evaluated was 56%. 4 patients showed complete response and 10 patients had a partial response.
About 80 percent of Merkel cell carcinoma are caused by the viral infection by Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV). This study is very important as it demonstrates that virus-driven cancers may be treated with immunotherapy. Merkel cell carcinoma may also be caused by the exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Merkel cell carcinoma is more aggressive than melanoma and is several times more lethal.
Right now there’s no drug approved for Merkel cell carcinoma but this study has shed a light on the new action of pembrolizumab, more studies and evidence are required for the better understanding of important questions, such as how long patients should be treated after responding, which patients are most likely to respond to immunotherapy, whether other virus-associated cancers can be treated with immunotherapy. These are some open questions that require more research and findings.
This study was funded by the National Cancer Institute and Merck.

Reference:

PD-1 Blockade with Pembrolizumab in Advanced Merkel-Cell Carcinoma
Paul T. Nghiem, M.D., Ph.D., Shailender Bhatia, M.D., Evan J. Lipson, M.D., Ragini R. Kudchadkar, M.D., Natalie J. Miller, B.A., Lakshmanan Annamalai, D.V.M., Ph.D, Sneha Berry, M.S., Elliot K. Chartash, M.D., Adil Daud, M.B., B.S., Steven P. Fling, Ph.D., Philip A. Friedlander, M.D., Harriet M. Kluger, M.D., Holbrook E. Kohrt, M.D., Ph.D., Lisa Lundgren, M.S., Kim Margolin, M.D., Alan Mitchell, M.Sc., Thomas Olencki, D.O., Drew M. Pardoll, M.D., Ph.D., Sunil A. Reddy, M.D., Erica M. Shantha, M.D., William H. Sharfman, M.D., Elad Sharon, M.D., M.P.H., Lynn R. Shemanski, Ph.D., Michi M. Shinohara, M.D., Joel C. Sunshine, M.D., Ph.D., Janis M. Taube, M.D., John A. Thompson, M.D., Steven M. Townson, Ph.D., Jennifer H. Yearley, D.V.M., Ph.D., Suzanne L. Topalian, M.D., and Martin A. Cheever, M.D.
April 19, 2016 DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1603702

Study Reveals that Opdivo from Bristol-Myers extends survival in head and neck cancer

Apr 19, 2016

According to data from a late-stage study, the cancer immunotherapy drug of Bristol-Myers Squibb, Opdivo, assisted advanced head and neck cancer patients with a dismal prognosis live longer than other standard treatments.

Treatment with Opdivo led to a 30 percent reduction in risk of death, where median overall survival was 7.5 months in the 361-patient trial. This was better compared with 5.1 months for those who received any of three commonly used treatments chosen by researchers.

Some patients taking that type of immunotherapy experience far more durable responses, despite the fact that a median survival difference of less than three months may not sound like much. 36 percent of Opdivo patients were still alive after one year, compared with 16.6 percent of those who received either docetaxel, methotrexate, or Eli Lilly’s Erbitux, as reported by the researchers.

The results from this study paves the way for another approval for Opdivo, which is now approved in the treatment of advanced melanoma, kidney cancer, and non-small cell lung cancer.

Dr. Maura Gillison, the study’s lead investigator who presented the data at the American Association of Cancer Research meeting in New Orleans, said in an interview: “The most important thing is the difference in the proportion of patients who survived to a year. In a disease that was uniformly rapidly fatal, we’re seeing a subset of the population clearly benefiting.”