Seven years on, an immunotherapy after kidney-cancer surgery is still saving lives

After kidney-cancer surgery, the fear is that the cancer will come back. The final analysis of the Phase 3 KEYNOTE-564 trial, presented by Toni Choueiri of Boston at the ESMO congress, followed 994 patients for a median of more than seven years — and the benefit of pembrolizumab, an immunotherapy that helps the immune system hunt stray cancer cells, has held. Seven years after surgery, 57.2% of treated patients remained disease-free against 44.6% on placebo, and 82.3% were alive against 76.6%. No new serious side effects appeared. It is the long follow-up doctors needed: proof the protection does not fade.

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