ASCO 2018 | Improved survival, toxicity & QoL with pembrolizumab in head and neck cancer

Prognoses for patients with relapsed metastatic head and neck cancer that has progressed on prior platinum therapy are poor. Here, Kevin Harrington, PhD, MBBS, of the Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK, discusses data from the KEYNOTE-040 study (NCT02252042), which compared the effect of pembrolizumab against the investigator’s choice of standard chemotherapy. The results were in favor of pembrolizumab over the standard of care: overall survival, toxicity and patient-reported quality of life scores were better in the pembrolizumab arm of the study. This video was recorded at the American Society of Oncology (ASCO) 2018 Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL.