Keynote 24 study explores investigational approach to treating lung cancer

Lung cancer impacts the lives of millions of people worldwide. In nearly 40 percent of people diagnosed with lung cancer, it has metastasized, or spread to other areas of the body, making it difficult to treat. Immunotherapy is a type of therapy that uses the body's own immune system to help fight cancer. Immunotherapy may help the body's immune system target cancer cells.

One clinical trial currently studying this investigational approach to treating lung cancer is Keynote 24. The medication being investigated is called pembrolizumab and it targets PD-1, a protein found on some cells of the immune system. Some tumors express certain proteins that are often not recognized by the immune system, so it does not know to attack those tumors. The goal of Keynote 24 is to see if pembrolizumab will help the immune system recognize and attack these tumors in people with stage 4, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)—the most common type of lung cancer (about 9 out of 10 cases).

What is learned in this study may help researchers develop new options for patients with advanced lung cancer.

The Keynote 24 study is being sponsored by Merck and conducted at research centers around the world. About 300 people will participate.

SOURCE Keynote 24 study