Retrospective study of pembrolizumab maintenance with or without pemetrexed after induction treatment for advanced non-squamous NSCLC

Guidelines recommend maintenance treatment with pembrolizumab plus pemetrexed after first-line treatment for advanced non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer. A retrospective nationwide cohort study in The Netherlands compared maintenance treatment with pembrolizumab plus pemetrexed versus pembrolizumab monotherapy. The median overall survival was 18.2 months with pembrolizumab plus pemetrexed compared with 21.0 months with pembrolizumab monotherapy (HR 0.91; 95% CI 0.78-1.05). The authors conclude that addition of pemetrexed to pembrolizumab maintenance therapy did not provide additional survival benefit.