Prospective study of farmacokinetic-guided individualized pembrolizumab administration for advanced non-small cell lung cancer

The recommended dose of pembrolizumab for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (aNSCLC) is 200 mg every three weeks. A prospective study at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center (Guangzhou, China) evaluated evaluated farmacokinetic (PK)-guided pembrolizumab administration for aNSCLC based on pembrolizumab plasma concentrations. With 15 μg/ml chosen asl effective concentration, 30 of 33 patients received pembrolizumab with prolonged intervals (22-80 days) while 3 of 33 patients had shortened intervals (15-20 days). In this PK-guided cohort, the median PFS was 15.1 months and the ORR was 57.6%, while in a historical control cohort the median PFS was 7.7 months and the ORR was 48.2%. Immune-related adverse events were slightly less frequent in the PK-guided cohort. The authors conclude that PK-guided pembrolizumab administration had promising efficacy and manageable toxicity.