Adjuvant therapy with the anti-PD-1 antibody pembrolizumab has been shown to significantly improve disease-free survival (DFS) relative to placebo in patients with resected nonmetastatic intermediate-to-high-risk renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in the phase III KEYNOTE-564 trial. Now, an update from this trial confirms that pembrolizumab also improves overall survival (OS).

A total of 994 patients were randomly allocated (1:1) to receive either pembrolizumab or placebo. OS was a secondary end point. A statistically significant improvement in DFS (the primary end point) was previously demonstrated at a cutoff of 24 months.