Brief Report: Canadian Cancer Trials Group IND.227: A Phase 2 Randomized Study of Pembrolizumab in Patients With Advanced Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma (NCT02784171)

• DOI: 10.1016/j.jtho.2023.02.003
• Publication Date: 2023-02-24T17:48:48Z
• Authors: Maria Carmela Pic...; Quincy Chu; Penelope Bradbury; Wei Tu; Courtney H. Coschi; Federica Grosso; Marie Florescu; Manlio Mencoboni; John R. Goffin; Maria Pagano; Fortunato Ciardiello; Fabiana Letizia C...; Mark Vincent; Roberto Ferrara; David E. Dawe; Desiree Hao; Christopher W. Lee; Alessandro Morabito; Cesare Gridelli; Luigi Cavanna; Mussawar Iqbal; Normand Blais; Natasha B. Leighl; Paul Wheatley-Price; Ming-Sound Tsao; Francesca Ugo; Hazem El-Osta; Piera Gargiulo; Pierre-Olivier Ga...; Dongsheng Tu; Joana Sederias; Pamela Brown-Walker; Francesco Perrone; Lesley Seymour; Scott A. Laurie
• Keywords: Pemetrexed; Interim analysis; Interim

Immune checkpoint inhibitors have activity in mesothelioma. IND.227 was a phase 2 trial (120 patients planned) comparing progression-free survival of standard platinum and pemetrexed (CP) versus CP + pembrolizumab (pembro) versus pembro. Accrual to the pembro arm was discontinued on the basis of interim analysis (IA-16 wk disease control rate). CP + pembro was tolerable, with progression-free survival similar between arms and median survival and overall response rate higher than those of CP alone (19.8 mo [95% confidence interval or CI: 8.4-41.36] versus 8.9 mo [95% CI: 5.3-12.8] and 47% [95% CI: 24%-71%] versus 19% [95% CI: 5%-42%], respectively). The subsequent phase 3 trial has completed accrual; results are expected in 2023.