FDA: Accelerated approval for Keytruda for patients with advanced (NSCLC) lung cancer

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday granted accelerated approval for Keytruda (pembrolizumab) to treat patients with advanced (metastatic) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose disease has progressed after other treatments and with tumors that express a protein called PD-L1.

According to FDA, Keytruda is approved for use with a companion diagnostic, the PD-L1 IHC 22C3 pharmDx test, the first test designed to detect PD-L1 expression in non-small cell lung tumors.

FDA says that the safety of Keytruda was studied in 550 patients with advanced NSCLC. The most common side effects of Keytruda included fatigue, decreased appetite, shortness of breath or impaired breathing (dyspnea) and cough. Keytruda also has the potential to cause severe side effects that result from the immune system effect of Keytruda (known as “immune-mediated side effects”).