Dr. O’Malley on the Efficacy of Pembrolizumab in Advanced Ovarian Cancer

David M. O'Malley, MD, a professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Ohio State University (OSU)College of Medicine, director of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology, and co-director of the Gynecologic Oncology Phase I Program at The OSU Comprehensive Cancer Center–James, discusses the efficacy of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in patients with advanced ovarian cancer.

PD-1 inhibitors have demonstrated modest activity when administered as single agents, O’Malley says. In the phase 2 KEYNOTE-100 trial (NCT02674061), pembrolizumab was examined in 2 cohorts of patients with advanced ovarian cancer, according to O’Malley. Cohort A enrolled patients who had received 1 to 3 prior therapies, and cohort B included those who had received 4 to 6 prior therapies, O’Malley explains. Results showed that pembrolizumab was consistent with other single-agent checkpoint inhibitors, with an overall response rate of approximately 10%, O’Malley adds. 

When looking at sub-populations, such as those examined on this study, data suggest that response rates with this agent appear to increase as the PD-L1 combined positive score increases, O’Malley says. As such, there may be a biomarker that can help predict response to immunotherapy in this patient population, concludes O’Malley.