Does Adding Pembrolizumab to Chemoradiotherapy Improve Survival in Patients with Locally Advanced Cervical Cancer?

Using pembrolizumab with platinum-based chemotherapy has been shown to be effective in patients with PD-L1–positive, persistent, recurrent, or metastatic cervical cancer. Now, in a manufacturer-supported, randomized, double-blind, international, phase 3 trial, researchers evaluated survival outcomes with pembrolizumab in 1060 adult patients with locally advanced cervical cancer who were receiving chemoradiation.

Eligible patients had newly diagnosed, high-risk squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, or adenosquamous carcinoma of the cervix (FIGO 2014 stage IB2–IIB with node-positive disease or stage III–IVA). The study arms were either pembrolizumab plus chemoradiotherapy followed by maintenance pembrolizumab, or placebo plus chemoradiother…