Pembrolizumab After Two or More Lines of Previous Therapy in Patients With Recurrent or Metastatic SCLC: Results From the KEYNOTE-028 and KEYNOTE-158 Studies

Hyun C. Chung, Sarina A. Piha-Paul, Jose Lopez-Martin, Jan H.M. Schellens, Steven Kao, Wilson H. Miller, Jean Pierre Delord, Bo Gao, David Planchard, Maya Gottfried, Alona Zer, Shadia I. Jalal, Nicolas Penel, Janice M. Mehnert, Ignacio Matos, Jaafar Bennouna, Dong Wan Kim, Lei Xu, Suba Krishnan, Kevin NorwoodPatrick A. Ott

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

241 Scopus citations

Abstract

Introduction: Pembrolizumab has shown clinical benefit in patients with previously treated recurrent or metastatic SCLC in the phase 1b multicohort study KEYNOTE-028 (NCT02054806) and the phase 2 multicohort study KEYNOTE-158 (NCT02628067). We present a pooled analysis of patients from KEYNOTE-028 and KEYNOTE-158 who had received two or more lines of previous therapy for SCLC. Methods: Eligible patients were aged 18 years and above, had histologically or cytologically confirmed incurable recurrent or metastatic SCLC, had an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 1 and below, and had received two or more lines of previous therapy. Patients in KEYNOTE-028 were required to have a programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1)–positive tumor. Patients received pembrolizumab (10 mg/kg every 2 weeks in KEYNOTE-028 or 200 mg every 3 weeks in KEYNOTE-158) for up to 2 years. The primary end point was objective response rate per Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors version 1.1, which is presented here per independent review. Results: Eighty-three patients who had received two or more lines of previous therapy (KEYNOTE-028, n = 19; KEYNOTE-158, n = 64) were included. Median follow-up duration was 7.7 (range, 0.5–48.7) months. Objective response rate was 19.3% (95% confidence interval: 11.4–29.4); two patients had complete response (one with a PD-L1–positive tumor), and 14 patients had partial response (13 with PD-L1–positive tumors). The median duration of response was not reached (range, 4.1‒35.8+ mo; plus sign indicates ongoing response); 61% of responders had responses lasting 18 months or longer. Fifty-one patients (61.4%) experienced any-grade treatment-related adverse events; eight patients (9.6%) had grade 3 or higher events. Conclusions: Pembrolizumab exhibited durable antitumor activity in a subset of patients with recurrent or metastatic SCLC who had undergone two or more previous lines of therapy, regardless of PD-L1 expression. Pembrolizumab was well tolerated.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)618-627
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Thoracic Oncology
Volume15
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2020

Keywords

  • Immunotherapy
  • Pembrolizumab
  • SCLC
  • Third-line therapy

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Oncology
  • Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine

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