FDA Approval of Adjuvant Pembrolizumab for NSCLC

On January 26, 2023, the US FDA granted approval for pembrolizumab, an anti-PD-1 antibody, as adjuvant therapy for patients with resected NSCLC. In this episode of Lung Cancer Considered, host Dr. Stephen Liu leads a discussion on this approval with two thoracic medical oncologists with extensive expertise in this space: Dr. Jamie Chaft and Dr. Mary O’Brien. Dr. Chaft is an Associate Attending at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where she is the Director of Early Stage Lung Cancer Research, chair of the adjuvant nivolumab trial within the ALCHEMIST program, and heavily involved in perioperative systemic therapy studies. Dr. Mary O’Brien, Professor and Consultant Medical Oncologist at the Royal Marsden in Surrey, Head of the Lung Unit, and chair of the EORTC Lung Cancer Group. She was one of the investigators on the KEYNOTE 091 trial, which provided vital data that led to this approval.