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← Gastric Cancer

HEALTH PROFESSIONAL · SOURCE READING

Pembrolizumab with chemotherapy

Source: Gastric Cancer Treatment (PDQ®)–Health Professional Version, National Cancer Institute.

Source updated: February 21, 2025 · Captured 2026-09-09.

Selected source text with whitespace normalised. This Triangle page is not an NCI PDQ summary.

Context: Treatment of Stage IV, Inoperable, and Recurrent Gastric Cancer / Treatment Options for Stage IV, Inoperable, and Recurrent Gastric Cancer / First-line palliative systemic therapy for patients with HER2-positive tumors (3+ on IHC or 2+ on IHC with a positive FISH) / Immunotherapy with chemotherapy

The combination of pembrolizumab and chemotherapy has not shown superiority over chemotherapy alone.

Evidence (pembrolizumab with chemotherapy):

A phase III, partially blinded, randomized, international study (KEYNOTE-062 [NCT02494583]) of 763 patients with previously untreated advanced gastric cancer with a PD-L1 CPS of one or greater randomly assigned patients 1:1:1 to receive either pembrolizumab 200 mg IV every 3 weeks, pembrolizumab with chemotherapy (cisplatin with 5-FU or capecitabine), or chemotherapy alone.[31]

Source links and citations

A phase III, partially blinded, randomized, international study (KEYNOTE-062 [NCT02494583]) of 763 patients with previously untreated advanced gastric cancer with a PD-L1 CPS of one or greater randomly assigned patients 1:1:1 to receive either pembrolizumab 200 mg IV every 3 weeks, pembrolizumab with chemotherapy (cisplatin with 5-FU or capecitabine), or chemotherapy alone.[31]

The final results did not show superiority of pembrolizumab or pembrolizumab with chemotherapy over chemotherapy alone.

A phase III, partially blinded, randomized, international study (KEYNOTE-062 [NCT02494583]) of 763 patients with previously untreated advanced gastric cancer with a PD-L1 CPS of one or greater randomly assigned patients 1:1:1 to receive either pembrolizumab 200 mg IV every 3 weeks, pembrolizumab with chemotherapy (cisplatin with 5-FU or capecitabine), or chemotherapy alone.[31]

However, when selected for a PD-L1 CPS of ten or greater, median OS was 17.4 months (95% CI, 9.1−23.1) in the pembrolizumab-alone arm compared with 10.8 months (95% CI, 8.5−13.8) in the chemotherapy-alone arm (HR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.49−0.97). The prespecified statistical analysis plan did not test this difference further.

Studies cited in this source section

Source citation is not a determination that a study applies to you.

Publication references

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Preserved source evidence · Not medical advice