Crossover and rechallenge with pembrolizumab in recurrent patients from the EORTC 1325-MG/Keynote-054 phase III trial, pembrolizumab versus placebo after complete resection of high-risk stage III melanoma

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  • Alexander M M Eggermont
  • Andrey Meshcheryakov
  • Victoria Atkinson
  • Christian U. Blank
  • Mario Mandala
  • Georgina V Long
  • Catherine Barrow
  • Anna Maria Di Giacomo
  • Rosalie Fisher
  • Shahneen Sandhu
  • Ragini Kudchadkar
  • Pablo Luis Ortiz Romero
  • James Larkin
  • Susana Puig
  • Peter Hersey
  • Pietro Quaglino
  • Paola Queirolo
  • Daniil Stroyakovskiy
  • Lars Bastholt
  • Peter Mohr
  • Micaela Hernberg
  • Vanna Chiarion-Sileni
  • Matthew Strother
  • Axel Hauschild
  • Naoya Yamazaki
  • Alexander Cj van Akkooi
  • Paul Lorigan
  • Clemens Krepler
  • Nageatte Ibrahim
  • Sandrine Marreaud
  • Michal Kicinski
  • Stefan Suciu
  • Caroline Robert

Background: In the phase III double-blind European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer 1325/KEYNOTE-054 trial, pembrolizumab improved recurrence free and distant metastasis-free survival in patients with stage III cutaneous melanoma with complete resection of lymph nodes. In the pembrolizumab group, the incidence of grade I-V and of grade III-V immune-related adverse events (irAEs) was 37% and 7%, respectively. Methods: Patients were randomised to receive intravenous (i.v.) pembrolizumab 200 mg (N = 514) or placebo (N = 505) every 3 weeks, up to 1 year. On recurrence, patients could enter part 2 of the study: pembrolizumab 200 mg i.v. every 3 weeks up to 2 years, for crossover (those who received placebo) or rechallenge (those who had recurrence >6 months after completing 1-year adjuvant pembrolizumab therapy). For these patients, we present the safety profile and efficacy outcomes. Results: At the clinical cut-off (16-Oct-2020), in the placebo group, 298 patients had a disease recurrence, in which 155 (52%) crossed over ('crossover'). In the pembrolizumab group, 297 patients completed the 1-year treatment period; 47 had a recurrence >6 months later, in which 20 (43%) entered the rechallenge part 2 ('rechallenge'). In the crossover group, the median progression-free survival (PFS) was 8.5 months (95% confidence interval [CI] 5.7-15.2) and the 3-year PFS rate was 32% (95% CI 25-40%). Among 80 patients with stage IV evaluable disease, 31 (39%) had an objective response: 14 (18%) patients with complete response (CR) and 17 (21%) patients with partial response. The 2-year PFS rate from response was 69% (95% CI 48-83%). In the rechallenge group, the median PFS was 4.1 months (95% CI 2.6-NE). Among 9 patients with stage IV evaluable disease, 1 had an objective response (CR). Among the 175 patients, 51 (29%) had a grade I-IV irAE and 11 (6%) had a grade III-IV irAE. Conclusions: Pembrolizumab treatment after crossover yielded an overall 3-year PFS rate of 32% and a 39% ORR in evaluable patients, but the efficacy (11% ORR) was lower in those rechallenged. (c) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Original languageEnglish
JournalEuropean Journal of Cancer
Volume158
Pages (from-to)156-168
Number of pages13
ISSN0959-8049
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

    Research areas

  • Melanoma, anti-PD-1, Pembrolizumab, Salvage treatment, NODE-POSITIVE MELANOMA, DOUBLE-BLIND, ADJUVANT IPILIMUMAB, MULTICENTER, NIVOLUMAB, SURVIVAL

ID: 302829049