Pembrolizumab or placebo plus chemotherapy with or without bevacizumab for cervical cancer: subgroup analyse from KEYNOTE-826

The KEYNOTE-826 randomized clinical trial showed statistically significant and clinically meaningful survival benefits with the addition of pembrolizumab to chemotherapy with or without bevacizumab in patients with persistent, recurrent, or metastatic cervical cancer, that had not been treated with systemic chemotherapy and was not amenable to curative treatment. Exploratory subgroup analyses of the study have now been published. The analyses showed that the benefit of adding pembrolizumab was generally sustained across a broad selection of key patient subgroups. These subgroups were defined by bevacizumab use, platinum use, prior chemotherapy exposure only, and histologic type. The authors conclude that these results provide further support for pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy with or without bevacizumab as a new standard of care for patients with persistent, recurrent, or metastatic cervical cancer.