FDA’s Approval of New Keytruda Indication Yields Fresh Treatment Option for ‘Gigantic Group of Patients’ With Melanoma

Source: Cure, December 2021

The FDA’s recent greenlight of a new Keytruda indication gives a large group of patients with melanoma access to a treatment option that they didn’t previously have, says an expert from the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center.

The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) recent approval of a new indication of Keytruda (pembrolizumab) to be given following surgical resection of stage 2b, 2c or 3 melanoma provides a significant group of patients a new treatment option that they previously didn’t have access to, according to an expert

The FDA in 2019 gave Keytruda the OK to treat patients with resected, high-risk, stage 3 melanoma. However, the issue there, according to Dr. Jason Luke, is how “high-risk” has been historically classified.