Neoadjuvant pembrolizumab (Keytruda, Merck) was licensed for use in patients with previously untreated triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) on the basis of an event-free survival (EFS) benefit in the KEYNOTE-522 trial. The advantage was attributed to a higher pathologic complete response (pCR) relative to placebo, but a new analysis suggests that pembrolizumab also reduces the impact of persistent tumor burden.
“The most important finding from this analysis is that the benefit of