Pembrolizumab Before and After Surgery Improves Melanoma Survival

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found that neoadjuvant therapy with pembrolizumab may improve outcomes for patients with resectable melanoma.

The researchers aimed to determine whether giving pembrolizumab both before and after surgery would increase event-free survival among patients with resectable stage III or IV melanoma. They study authors randomly assigned patients with resectable stage III or IV melanoma to receive neoadjuvant pembrolizumab, surgery, and adjuvant pembrolizumab, or surgery followed by adjuvant pembrolizumab alone.

Patients who received pembrolizumab before and after surgery had significantly longer event-free survival than those who received adjuvant pembrolizumab alone. The study also found that the percentage of patients with treatment-related adverse events was similar between the 2 groups.

“Among patients with resectable stage III or IV melanoma, event-free survival was significantly longer among those who received pembrolizumab both before and after surgery than among those who received adjuvant pembrolizumab alone,” concluded study authors. “No new toxic effects were identified,” they added.

Reference
Patel SP, Othus M, Chen Y, et al. Neoadjuvant-adjuvant or adjuvant-only pembrolizumab in advanced melanoma. N Engl J Med. 2023;388(9):813-823. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2211437