The phase III KEYNOTE-689 trial evaluating Keytruda (pembrolizumab), Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy, as a perioperative treatment for patients newly diagnosed with stage 3 or 4A, resected, locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma met its primary endpoint of event-free survival.
The FDA Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee on Sept. 26 voted that PD-L1 inhibitors should not be indicated as a first-line treatment for patients with PD-L1-negative gastric/gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
