A new study finds adding the drug Keytruda to standard chemotherapy can extend the lives of some women with an aggressive form of breast cancer.
The study involved women with advanced triple-negative breast cancer, a hard-to-treat form of the disease. Keytruda is already approved in the United States as an option for those patients, based on evidence that it stalls the cancer's progression.show that the drug can extend some patients' lives, too.
Triple-negative cancers account for about 10% to 15% of all breast cancers, according to the American Cancer Society. They are so called because the cancer's growth is not fueled by estrogen, progesterone or a protein called HER-2. The latest trial, funded by drug maker Merck, involved 847 women with advanced triple-negative breast cancer. The researchers randomly assigned 566 to receive Keytruda plus chemotherapy, while the remaining 281 patients received chemo plus aKeytruda, which is given by infusion, belongs to a newer class of cancer drugs called immune checkpoint inhibitors. They work by releasing a particular"brake" on thePatients in this trial received Keytruda every three weeks, up to 35 times.
In contrast, the drug made no significant difference for women with lower PD-L1 scores: Those on Keytruda lived for a median of just under 18 months, versus 16 months among patients in the placebo group.
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