The checkpoint inhibitor, pembrolizumab, increases overall survival by 36% in patients with persistent, recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer, according to trial results.

The results of the KEYNOTE-826 trial carried out at 151 centres in 19 countries were announced at the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress in September and simultaneously published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

The double-blind phase III study of 617 patients showed a two-year survival rate of 53.0% in patients given the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) inhibitor versus 41.7% in the volunteers given placebo for the 548 patients with a PD-L1 combined positive score of at least one.

Also, an outcome of disease progression or death was 35% lower in the group given pembrolizumab (Keytruda, Merck) than in the placebo group.