Patients with locally advanced cervical cancer usually receive chemoradiotherapy (CRT) as first-line therapy, although this approach is generally not curative. Now, data from the phase III ENGOT-cx11/GOG-3047/KEYNOTE-A18 trial demonstrate that adding the anti-PD-1 antibody pembrolizumab to CRT reduces the risk of disease progression in this setting.

A total of 1,060 women with node-positive FIGO stage IB2–IIB or stage III–IVA squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma or adenosquamous carcinoma of the cervix were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive CRT plus either pembrolizumab or placebo followed by maintenance pembrolizumab or placebo. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were the co-primary end points.