Is there a difference in the durability of CR based on the dosage of pembrolizumab used in metastatic melanoma?

In this study, doses of 2mg/kg Q3wks, 10mg/kg Q3wks and 10mg/kg Q2wks were used. What did the majority of these patients in CR receive?

1 Answer

Mednet Member

Medical Oncology · Sediman Cancer Center/University Hospitals of Cleveland Case Medical Center

Answered on

This a great question and highlights the drug dosing and development process of the use of Pembrolizumab in metastatic Melanoma. In Keynote-002, Pembrolizumab was studied in the does of 2mg/kg and 10mg/kg vs chemotherapy and the CR responses were 2 vs 3% in the Pembrolizumab arms. In Keynote-006, Pembrolizumab was studied in doses of 10mg/kg Q2 w and 10mg / kg Q3 w vs Ipilimumab with CR responses of 5 vs 6% in the Pembrolizumab arms. Both of these studies showed that Pembrolizuamb outperforms chemotherapy and ipiliumuab in advanced melanoma. The higher dose tends to have some increased numerical CRs yet would not be statistically significant. This is a mute point however, since based on studies among multiple tumor types, the accepted dose for the advanced setting remains a fixed dose of 200mg of Pembrolizumab q 3 weeks.