Keytruda – a new immunotherapy for advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer and advanced melanoma

PETALING JAYA: MSD Malaysia is proud to announce that Keytruda®, the company’s first immunotherapy has been approved for the treatment of adults with advanced non- small cell lung cancer ( NSCLC), whose tumors express programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) as determined by a validated test and who have disease progression on or after platinumcontaining chemotherapy and EGFR or ALK inhibitors for those with EGFR or ALK genomic aberrations respectively.

Keytruda® is also approved for treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma. The approved dose is 2mg/kg every three weeks. This anti-PD-1 therapy received accelerated approval in Malaysia for first line treatment for advanced melanoma and as second line treatment for NSCLC.

“Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer deaths worldwide. It is responsible for more deaths than breast, prostate and colon cancer combined. In Malaysia, a total of 4,403 lung cancer cases were recorded in 2012, with more than 80 per cent mortality rate,” said Dr. Matin Mellor Abdullah, clinical oncologist, at the official launch.

“NSCLC is the most common type of lung cancer and about 85per cent of lung cancers are NSCLC. In most cases, symptoms of lung cancer do not appear until the disease is already at an advanced stage, making early detection and timely treatment very challenging. There is a great unmet need to provide more effective treatment to further improve outcome in patients with advanced NSCLC,” added Dr. Matin.

One type of immunotherapy called immune checkpoint inhibitors is a form of cancer treatment that prevents the interaction between the immune system’s T- cells and the tumors. When tumors and T-cells interact, a protein found in the tumor called PD-L1 deactivates T- cells so they become incapable of recognizing and destroying cancer cells. Through immunotherapy, this interaction is blocked so that Tcells can detect and ward off the cancer cells.

Keytruda® is approved for use with a companion diagnostic, the PD-L1 IHC 22C3 pharmDx test, the first test designed to detect PD-L1 expression in non- small cell lung tumors, marketed by Dako North America Inc., an Agilent Technologies Company in Carpinteria, California. With the PD-L1 companion diagnostic, healthcare professionals ( HCPs) will be able to determine the level of PD-L1 expression in a patient’s tumor and identify patients who are more likely to benefit from antiPD-1 therapy.

(From left) Dato’ Dr Mohamed Ibrahim Dato’ Abdul Wahid, clinical oncologist, Dr Matin and Chris Tan, MSD’s zone leader and managing director (Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei) at the launch of Keytruda® (pembrolizumab).

Angelina Villanueva (second right), senior general manager, KFC Marketing Sharifah Musainah (second left), general manager, QSR Brands (M) Holdings Sdn Bhd, and KFC staff proudly show off the newly launched KFC’s Kari-Kari Rangup to the media.