Scottish lung cancer patients will soon be able to receive a new lung cancer treatment which aims to stop lung cancer recurring.
The Scottish Medicine Consortium has recommended the immunotherapy, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) as a monotherapy for adults with non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) who are at high risk of recurrence following complete resection and platinum-based chemotherapy.
Pembrolizumab will be available to people whose lung cancer tumours express PD-L1 (programmed death-ligand 1) with a tumour proportion score (TPS) of 0 to 49%.
Paula Chadwick, chief executive at Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, welcomes the announcement:
“It is great news that the Scottish Medicines Consortium has approved the use of pembolizumab (Keytruda) for people with non-small cell lung cancer following surgery.
“A lung cancer diagnosis can severely impact a person both physically and mentally. Even if someone has undergone treatment that aims to cure their disease, it can be difficult to move forward for fear the cancer will come back.
“So the fact that this treatment is designed to reduce a person’s cancer coming back will help ease the ongoing anxiety that accompanies each diagnosis.
“It further demonstrates the ongoing progress being made to treat all stages of lung cancer. Lung cancer treatment has improved significantly over the last decade and every new announcement like this, gives fresh hope to those living with the disease.”
The recommendation was based on data from the PEARLS/KEYNOTE-091 trial, which enrolled 1,177 patients from 196 medical centres in 29 countries.
If you have any questions about this announcement, or about what treatments may be available to you, contact our Ask the Nurse helpline on 0800 358 7200 or email lungcancerhelp@roycastle.org.
