Phase III KEYNOTE-024 study of Keytruda (pembrolizumab) shows positive health-related quality of life in non-small cell lung cancer- Merck Inc

Merck Inc. has announced positive health-related quality of life (HRQoL) findings from an exploratory analysis from the phase III KEYNOTE-024 study investigating the use of Keytruda (pembrolizumab) compared to standard of care (SOC) platinum-containing chemotherapy for the treatment of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors express high levels of PD-L1 (tumor proportion score [TPS] of 50 percent or more). Specifically, patient-reported outcomes showed clinically meaningful improvement with Keytruda compared to chemotherapy.

The findings showed that HRQoL and symptoms were improved or maintained to a greater degree with Keytruda compared to chemotherapy (based on 299 patients who completed at least one questionnaire). Specifically, the improvement in global health status from baseline to week 15 (difference in least squares) for Keytruda was 6.9 (95% CI, 3.3-10.6) compared to -0.9 (95% CI, -4.8-3.0) in the chemotherapy arm.

Analysis based on specific functioning and symptoms showed more patients treated with Keytruda reporting an improvement in global health status and/or quality of life, fatigue, and pain compared to patients treated with chemotherapy. Fewer patients in the Keytruda arm experienced deterioration compared to chemotherapy (30.5% and 39.2%, respectively), with a prolonged time to deterioration also observed in the Keytruda arm. Findings will be presented at the 17th World Conference on Lung Cancer.