Anti-PD-1/IFN Combo Active in Advanced Melanoma

Source: Med Page Today, February 2019

Patients with advanced melanoma had a high response rate with the dual immune system-targeted combination of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) and pegylated interferon alfa-2b (PEG-intron), a small phase Ib/II clinical trial showed.

The combination resulted in an objective response rate (ORR) of 60.5% in 43 patients with stage IV melanoma and no prior exposure to pembrolizumab or other anti-PD1/PD-L1 drugs. After a median follow-up of 25 months, responses persisted in almost half of the patients, reported Diwakar Davar, MD, of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and colleagues.

Median overall survival (OS) had yet to be reached, they wrote in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.