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Outcomes of retreatment with anti-PD-1 monotherapy after response to first course in patients with cutaneous melanoma

Eric D Whitman

Emilie Scherrer

Wanmei Ou

Clemens Krepler

Eric D Whitman

*Author for correspondence: Tel.: +1 973 971 7111;

E-mail Address: Eric.Whitman@atlantichealth.org

Atlantic Melanoma Center, Atlantic Health System Cancer Care, 100 Madison Ave., Morristown, NJ 07960 USA

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Emilie Scherrer

Merck & Co., Inc., 2000 Galloping Hill Rd, Kenilworth, NJ 07033 USA

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Wanmei Ou

Merck & Co., Inc., 2000 Galloping Hill Rd, Kenilworth, NJ 07033 USA

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Clemens Krepler

Merck & Co., Inc., 2000 Galloping Hill Rd, Kenilworth, NJ 07033 USA

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Published Online:15 May 2020https://doi.org/10.2217/fon-2020-0314

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Abstract

Aim: To determine outcomes of retreatment with anti-PD-1 monotherapy for melanoma. Materials & methods: This retrospective study included adults with unresectable cutaneous melanoma who achieved stable disease (SD) or better after anti-PD-1 monotherapy and were retreated with anti-PD-1 monotherapy after ≥90-day gap. We determined overall survival and real-world tumor response. Results: For 21 eligible patients, from retreatment initiation, median follow-up was 14.4 months (range, 2.6–34.5); median overall survival was 30.0 months (95% CI: 14.4–not reached); 1-year survival was 100% (95% CI: 100–100%); 2-year survival was 83% (48–96%). Of 16 patients with recorded best real-world tumor response, ten (63%) responded (complete/partial response); three achieved SD; three had progressive disease. Conclusion: Patients with advanced melanoma achieving SD/better after first-course anti-PD-1 monotherapy may benefit from retreatment.

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Papers of special note have been highlighted as: • of interest; •• of considerable interest

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History

Received 7 April 2020

Accepted 28 April 2020

Published online 15 May 2020

Published in print July 2020

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Keywords

Author contributions

Conception and design of the study: ED Whitman, W Ou and C Krepler. Data analysis: W Ou. Interpretation of findings, critical review and revision of the manuscript: ED Whitman, E Scherrer, W Ou and C Krepler. All authors read and approved the final manuscript and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the help of S Tanniru (Merck & Co., Inc., NJ, USA) for providing study management support and T Shi and W Meng (Merck & Co., Inc., NJ, USA) for providing statistical programming support.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This work was supported by Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ, USA. The funder of the study participated in development of the study design and funded the analysis of the data. All authors, including those employed by Merck, participated in the data interpretation and writing of the manuscript. ED Whitman is a consultant and serves on advisory boards and/or speaker's bureaus for Merck, BMS, Genentech, Novartis, Amgen, Castle Biosciences, Regeneron and Sanofi Genzyme. E Scherrer, W Ou and C Krepler are full-time employees of Merck Sharp & Dohme, Corp., a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., NJ, USA and own stock of Merck & Co., Inc., NJ, USA. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Medical writing and editorial assistance was provided by EV Hillyer, DVM (freelance). This assistance was funded by Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., NJ, USA.

Ethical conduct of research

The deidentified dataset supporting the conclusions of this article was provided by Flatiron Health. Ethical approval was obtained before study initiation from the Copernicus Group Institutional Review Board, including a waiver of informed consent for working with deidentified data. The data remained deidentified throughout the analyses to protect patient confidentiality.

Open access

This work is licensed under the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

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