Source: Medscape, May 2025
In the 11 years since it was approved for the treatment of melanoma, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) has become the go-to for adjuvant or neoadjuvant therapy for advanced melanoma, despite the potential for side effects, which can be severe and occur in more than half of all patients. Oncologists need to weigh the risk of those side effects against the strong evidence supporting the effectiveness of pembrolizumab to improve survival. More often than not, those scales tip toward using the drug to treat advanced melanoma, experts say.
Evidence has accumulated about which types of patients may be more susceptible to drug-related toxicities, how oncologists and other providers in the multidisciplinary team can manage those toxicities, and which treatment protocols may be most effective.