ASCO 2025 | C-POST: adjuvant cemiplimab in high-risk cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma

The C-POST Phase III trial took a group of patients that were at very high risk of recurrence, cutaneous SCC, after surgery and radiotherapy and randomised them to cemiplimab or placebo. The key finding from the trial is there was a marked reduction in recurrence in the patients who received cemiplimab. So the improvement in disease-free survival had a hazard ratio of 0.32, the P-value less than 0.0001, so a 68% reduction. And this benefit in terms of reduced recurrences was seen in all pre-specified subgroups, both what we call nodal and non-nodal high risk groups. There was a benefit that was seen both in a dramatic decrease in local regional recurrences, an 80% reduction, and a decrease in distant metastases of a 65% reduction. The treatment was well tolerated, the safety profile was as one has seen previously with the well-established toxicity profile of cemiplimab monotherapy. So the conclusion in terms of efficacy was there was a marked improvement in disease-free survival that was statistically significant and clinically meaningful, and it’s the first systemic adjuvant treatment to improve outcomes for patients with high-risk, locally, radically advanced, cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, and is likely to represent a potential new standard of care for these patients.

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