Immunotherapy Drug Lowers Risk of Recurrence, Death in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Patients

Triple-negative breast cancer is more aggressive than other forms of the disease and has fewer treatment options. It also often strikes younger women and those with BRCA1 mutations. However, there may be some good news for these patients. A clinical trial has shown that an existing immunotherapy treatment may help many of them avoid a recurrence.

The drugmaker Merck recently shared published results from the Phase 3 KEYNOTE-522 trial in the New England Journal of Medicine. The trial is testing the effectiveness of the drug Keytruda, also known as pembrolizumab, in high-risk early-stage triple-negative breast cancer patients. Keytruda is an immunotherapy treatment that works with a patient’s immune system to help it fight cancer cells. The trial has found that when administered before surgery with chemotherapy, and then given on its own after surgery, the risk of recurrence and death are substantially lower.

Dr. Peter Schmid, lead researcher and professor at Queen Mary University of London, says that there had already been studies showing the effectiveness of immunotherapy administered with chemo pre-surgery, but these findings go even further.

He explains, “We now have long-term results demonstrating that the combination therapy significantly reduces recurrences by approximately 37%, including reduction of secondary breast cancer by 39%.

“This means that the cure rate for these cancers is significantly increased. The estimates are that, just in the US where this treatment was recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration, this new treatment may save as many as 10,000 lives per year.”

The trial included nearly 800 women who received Keytruda along with just under 400 in a placebo group. In the first group, 84.5% of patients had not had any recurrence within three years of initial treatment, compared with 76.8% of the second group.

Dr. Schmid believes the findings could help change the landscape of treatment for triple-negative breast cancer patients.

He says, “These data establish that Keytruda plus chemotherapy as neoadjuvant [pre-surgery] therapy followed by adjuvant Keytruda could change clinical practice for the treatment of patients with high-risk early-stage triple-negative breast cancer.”

This group of patients could benefit from improved treatment options. According to the American Cancer Society, the five-year survival rate for all early-stage breast cancers is 99%, but it’s just 91% for early-stage triple-negative breast cancer patients.

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