Video

Dr. Rudin on Significance of the KEYNOTE-021 in Patients With NSCLC

Charles M. Rudin, MD, PhD, chief, Thoracic Oncology Service, co-director, Druckenmiller Center for Lung Cancer Research, Sylvia Hassenfeld Chair in Lung Cancer Research, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the caveats of KEYNOTE-021.

Charles M. Rudin, MD, PhD, chief, Thoracic Oncology Service, co-director, Druckenmiller Center for Lung Cancer Research, Sylvia Hassenfeld Chair in Lung Cancer Research, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the caveats of the KEYNOTE-021 trial.

KEYNOTE-021 cohort G was one arm of a very large trial that enrolled patients with previously untreated metastatic non—small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). That study was the first to look at the role of first-line chemotherapy plus immunotherapy for NSCLC. The results suggested that chemotherapy with immune-oncology drugs was better than chemotherapy alone.

Some of the caveats of the trial are that it was a small trial that was powered to look at survival. The progression-free survival curves seemed to favor the immunotherapy arm, but the trials were really designed with a primary endpoint of response rate. Ultimately, the phase III data need to be seen before it can be established as a standard of care, says Rudin.

Clinicians referring a patient to MSK can do so by visiting msk.org/refer, emailing referapatient@mskcc.org, or by calling 833-315-2722.
Related Videos
Julia Rotow, MD, clinical director, Lowe Center for Thoracic Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; assistant professor, medicine, Harvard Medical School
Joshua K. Sabari, MD, assistant professor, Department of Medicine, New York University Grossman School of Medicine; director, High Reliability Organization Initiatives, Perlmutter Cancer Center
Alastair Thompson, BSc, MBChB, MD, FRCS
C. Ola Landgren, MD, PhD
Sara M. Tolaney, MD, MPH
Adam M. Brufsky, MD, PhD, FACP
Justin M. Watts, MD
Sara M. Tolaney, MD, MPH
Leah Backhus, MD, MPH, FACS, professor, University Medical Line, Cardiothoracic Surgery, co-director, Thoracic Surgery Clinical Research Program, associate program director, Thoracic Track, CT Surgery Residency Training Program, Thelma and Henry Doelger Professor of Cardiovascular Surgery, Stanford Medicine; chief, Thoracic Surgery, VA Palo Alto
Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, Ensign Professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology), professor, pharmacology, deputy director, Yale Cancer Center; chief, Medical Oncology, director, Center for Thoracic Cancers, Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital; assistant dean, Translational Research, Yale School of Medicine