The combination of pembrolizumab (Keytruda), and lenvatinib (Lenvima) demonstrated promising clinical activity with no unexpected toxicities in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), according to results from the PEMMELA study (NCT04287829) presented at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer 2022 World Conference.
Preliminary results indicated a median overall survival (OS) of 11.4 months (95% CI, 9.8-not reached) and a median progression-free survival (PFS) of 5.6 months (95% CI, 4.5-9.3)[TB1] . The objective response rate (ORR) was 58% and 76% of patients required dose reductions, according to investigators.
“This study met its primary end point, showing promising clinical activity of pembrolizumab plus [ Lenvima ] in patients with recurrent MPM who progressed after chemotherapy, with remarkable but no unexpected toxicity,” said Li-Anne Douma, a PhD candidate at The Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam who presented the results.
In patients with MPM, there is a large unmet need for effective second-line treatment options. The PD-1 receptor blocker, pembrolizumab, has shown a response rate up to 20% as monotherapy whereas [ Lenvima ], a multiple tyrosine kinase inhibitor with mostly vascular endothelial growth factor receptor blocking properties, has synergistic interactions with PD-1 blocking in other tumors.
Because of this, investigators sought to evaluate the clinical activity and toxicity of the 2 agents in combination as treatment for patients with recurrent MPM in the phase 2 single-arm, open-label, study.
Thirty-eight eligible patients received intravenous (IV) pembrolizumab given at a dose of 200 mg once every 3 weeks plus [ Lenvima ] at 20 mg orally once a day in patients with MPM who progressed after chemotherapy….
Overall, these data demonstrate the promising clinical activity observed with treatment consisting of pembrolizumab plus [ Lenvima ] in patients with recurrent MPM who progressed after chemotherapy.
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