Pembrolizumab/Lenvatinib Combo Achieves Promising Responses in Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer

Christine Dierks, MD, senior physician, University Hospital Freilburg, Germany, discusses the results from the prospective phase 2 ATLEP study of lenvatinib (Lenvima) in combination with pembrolizumab (Keytruda) as treatment of patients with metastatic anaplastic or poorly differentiated thyroid carcinoma.

In this study, 4 out of 8 patients achieved a complete response (CR) with the combination, and of the 4 patients, 3 are still alive, says Dierks. All patients who achieved a CR had anaplastic thyroid carcinoma.

Biomarkers observed in this small cohort of good responses included high PD-L1 status and increased tumor mutational burden. The median progression-free survival was 17.75 months, and the median overall survival is 19 months. The longest duration of treatment was 40 months in 1 patient, and 3 patients remained alive, receiving pembrolizumab monotherapy as the lenvatinib is stopped on the study when responses are achieved.