September 11, 2022 - Adding Keytruda to standard chemoradiation therapy showed a positive trend toward delaying disease worsening in locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. But the combination only pared down the risk of disease progression or death by 17% over chemoradiation alone, failing to cross the statistical significance threshold. But a recent 80-subject phase 2 trial suggested that giving Keytruda entirely after chemoradiation rather than concurrently may be more effective, SVB Securities analyst Daina Graybosch noted.
[The effect of sequencing in an immune checkpoint inhibitor after first "priming" the immune system with pelareorep is one that ONCY has been demonstrated in both the IND-213 and Bracelet -1 studies and has been discussed on this message board for some time particularly in patients who had low levels of PD-(L)1 expression, as witnessed in "cold" tumors.
ONCY's pelareorep is able to turn "cold" tumors "hot" by stimulating both the innate and adaptive immune systems and by overcoming an otherwise hostile TME thus making the cancer TME more amiable to immune checkpoint inhibition therapy.]
https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/esmo-mercks-keytruda-chalks-failure-head-and-neck-cancer-experts-see-silver-lining