Pembrolizumab Use Is Increasing in Patients With Recurrent Cervical Cancer

Pembrolizumab use is increasing among patients with recurrent cervical cancer (CC), according to a study presented at the 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting.

Pembrolizumab was approved for treatment of recurrent or metastatic CC as a single agent following chemotherapy in 2018 and in combination with chemotherapy in 2021; however, little is known about how it has been used in clinical care.

Researchers assessed 2727 patients with newly diagnosed CC from the Merative MarketScan Research Databases who underwent primary hysterectomy or radiation between 2017 and 2022. They analyzed use of systemic therapy at the time of primary/adjuvant therapy and at first recurrence. Primary/adjuvant chemotherapy was defined as the use of chemotherapy within 4 months of the first cancer claim. First-line (1L) systemic therapy for recurrence was defined as the introduction of a new agent after a gap of over 3 months for patients who received adjuvant/primary chemotherapy or after 4 months from primary hysterectomy or radiation. Treatment for recurrence was classified as either platinum therapy alone, platinum-based combination therapy, or nonplatinum therapy, noting use of targeted therapy (bevacizumab) and immunotherapies (pembrolizumab, nivolumab).

According to the results, pembrolizumab was initiated after CC recurrence in 15.7% of patients who received chemotherapy during primary therapy compared with 7.1% of those who did not receive primary chemotherapy. The use of pembrolizumab was 11.4% in 2018, 17.6% in 2019, 14.0% in 2020, 8.8% in 2021, and 11.8% in 2022. The median duration of 1L chemotherapy for recurrence was 2.3 months overall and 4.3 months for patients treated with pembrolizumab, the researchers noted. Patients who did not receive primary/adjuvant chemotherapy had a longer duration of treatment with pembrolizumab than those who received upfront chemotherapy (median, 7.5 [IQR 3.9-9.8] months vs 4.0 [IQR 2.2-11.0] months).

“Platinum-based chemotherapy remains the predominant therapy for recurrent CC, [but] pembrolizumab use is increasing for patients with recurrent CC. Longer follow-up is necessary to further evaluate its postapproval usage,” the researchers concluded.

Reference

Huang Y, Yoh K, Szarmreta E, Xu X, Hershman D, Wright JD. Patterns of pembrolizumab use for recurrent cervical cancer. Abstract #e17528. Published for the 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting; May 31-June 4, 2024; Chicago, Illinois.