One immunotherapy drug kept endometrial cancer at bay for 38 months — against 8 on chemotherapy

For people with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer whose tumours carry a mismatch-repair deficiency, the first treatment has usually meant chemotherapy. The Phase 3 KEYNOTE-C93 trial, reported at the ESMO Congress in Madrid, tested pembrolizumab (Keytruda) on its own against standard chemotherapy in 299 patients — and the immunotherapy held the cancer back for a median of 38.2 months, against 8.4 months on chemotherapy, a 43% lower risk of the cancer progressing or death. Serious treatment-related side effects were also far less common on the single drug: 18.1% of patients, against 50.7% on chemotherapy. Longer follow-up continues, and regulators have not yet approved this first-line use — but a gentler treatment outperforming chemotherapy four-to-one on time is the kind of result oncologists wait for.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: tech innovation