What is Keytruda (pembrolizumab) for?
Keytruda (pembrolizumab) is a monoclonal antibody (immunotherapy) indicated for the treatment of people with:
- advanced (unresectable or metastatic) melanoma
- metastatic nonsquamous NSCLC as first-line treatment in combination with pemetrexed and carboplatin
- recurrent or metastatic Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC)
- recurrent classical Hodgkin Lymphoma (cHL)
- locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma
- solid tumours having the biomarkers MSI-H or dMMR
- recurrent locally advanced or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma
- advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC).
- locally recurrent unresectable or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) whose tumors express PD-L1.
It is available as a powder for intravenous infusion (drip) containing 100mg of pembrolizumab per vial.
Note: Keytruda (pembrolizumab) is currently only available in 100mg form (100mg/4ml). There used to be a 50mg presentation but this has been discontinued as of March 15th, 2019.
How does Keytruda (pembrolizumab) work?
Keytruda (pembrolizumab) is a monoclonal antibody, a type of protein that has been designed to recognise and attach to a specific structure (called an antigen) that is found in certain cells in the body.
Keytruda (pembrolizumab) has been designed to attach to and block a receptor called āprogrammed cell death-1ā (PD-1), which switches off the activity of certain cells of the immune system (the bodyās natural defences) called T cells. By blocking PD-1, pembrolizumab prevents PD-1 from switching off these immune cells, thereby increasing the ability of the immune system to kill cancer cells.
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