FDA Approves KEYTRUDA® as Adjuvant Treatment Following Surgical Resection and Platinum-Based Chemotherapy for Patients With Stage IB, II, or IIIA NSCLC

“While there have been many advances for patients with metastatic disease, surgery remains the typical treatment for people with stage IB, II and IIIA non-small cell lung cancer. Unfortunately, many of these patients who undergo surgery still see their disease return,” said Roy S. Herbst, M.D., Ph.D., deputy director and chief of medical oncology, Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital and ensign professor of medicine (medical oncology) and professor of pharmacology, Yale School of Medicine. “Today’s approval for KEYTRUDA offers a new, important immunotherapy treatment option for stage IB (T2a ≥4 cm), II, or IIIA patients with non-small cell lung cancer following surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy. This provides, for the first time, an adjuvant immunotherapy treatment option for non-small cell lung cancer patients with stage IB disease and regardless of PD-L1 expression.”