Outcomes for patients in the pembrolizumab plus axitinib arm with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) who completed two years of treatment in the phase III KEYNOTE-426 study
Plimack, E. R. Powles, T. Bedke, J. Pouliot, F. Stus, V. Waddell, Thomas Gafanov, R. Nosov, D. Alekseev, B. McDermott, R. S.
Plimack, E. R.
Powles, T.
Bedke, J.
Pouliot, F.
Stus, V.
Waddell, Thomas
Gafanov, R.
Nosov, D.
Alekseev, B.
McDermott, R. S.
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Abstract
Background: In the randomized, open-label, phase III KEYNOTE-426 study (NCT02853331), pembrolizumab + axitinib significantly improved overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and objective response rate (ORR) versus sunitinib as first-line therapy for advanced RCC. Per protocol, patients could discontinue pembrolizumab or axitinib and continue the other agent. Pembrolizumab was stopped for all patients at 2 years. Axitinib could be continued until progression or toxicity. This exploratory subgroup analysis of KEYNOTE-426 describes outcomes of patients who completed 2 years of pembrolizumab. Methods: Patients included in KEYNOTE-426 were treatment naive, with clear cell RCC, KPS ≥70%, and measurable disease (RECIST v1.1). Patients were randomly assigned 1:1 to receive pembrolizumab 200 mg intravenously every 3 weeks for up to 35 doses + axitinib 5 mg orally twice daily or sunitinib 50 mg once daily (4 weeks on/2 weeks off) until progression, toxicity, or withdrawal. Primary end points of the original analysis were OS and PFS. Key secondary end points were ORR and safety. Results: Of 432 patients treated with pembrolizumab + axitinib, 129 (29.9%) completed 2 years of study therapy. Median (range) age of these patients was 61 (36-82) years, and 72.1% were male; 42 (32.6%) and 87 (67.4%) patients had International mRCC Database Consortium favorable and intermediate/poor risk, respectively, consistent with the intention-to-treat population (31.9% vs 68.1%). Median (range) follow-up (time from randomization to data cutoff) was 31.1 (24.0-37.7) months. For patients who completed 2 years of study therapy, the OS rates at 36 months was 93.8% (95% CI, 85.5%-97.4%). The PFS rates at 24 and 36 months were 72.7% (95% CI, 64.0%-79.7%) and 57.7% (95% CI, 46.3%-67.5%), respectively. The ORR was 85.3%, and the CR rate was 14.0%. 59.7% of patients experienced grade 3-5 treatment-related adverse events and 8.5% experienced grade 3-5 immune-mediated adverse events. Conclusions: In this exploratory analysis, a significant proportion of patients in the pembrolizumab + axitinib arm completed 2 years of pembrolizumab with ongoing clinical benefit
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Date
2021
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Collections
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Meetings and Proceedings
Citation
Plimack ER, Powles T, Bedke J, Pouliot F, Stus V, Waddell T, et al. Outcomes for patients in the pembrolizumab+axitinib arm with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) who completed two years of treatment in the phase III KEYNOTE-426 study. JCO. 2021 Feb 20;39(6_suppl):327–327.