Therapies “improve survival”
Overall, the results are important, Dr. Cabanillas said.
The results are “very exciting when you think about the fact that 10 years ago, patients with anaplastic thyroid cancer had a median overall survival measured in months, and now we see that those with a BRAF mutation have a real chance at survival when managed appropriately from the start,” she told this news organization.
She noted that a key caveat is the study’s retrospective nature. Other important considerations are that pembrolizumab adds toxicity as well as cost, and it is largely used off label in anaplastic thyroid cancer.
Nevertheless, “it does feel like there needs to be a call to action in the guidelines for this disease so that it includes neoadjuvant DT or DT plus pembrolizumab as the primary treatment of patients with BRAF-mutated anaplastic thyroid cancer because the initial treatment is critical here,” Dr. Cabanillas said.
She added that a phase 2 trial with neoadjuvant DT plus pembrolizumab is ongoing. Enrollment is expected to be completed soon.
Commenting on the findings, Sarimar Agosto Salgado, MD, of the department of head and neck – endocrine oncology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, Fla., who was a comoderator of the session, said the results are encouraging.
“These findings are promising because they open the landscape of options of therapies that we can provide these patients,” she said in an interview.
“Anaplastic thyroid cancer has been a disease with a very short survival despite aggressive therapies, but we are seeing that not only have these therapies been able to improve survival but also patients’ quality of life.”
Particularly encouraging is how quickly the therapies can work, Dr. Salgado added.
“Many times when patients present to the clinic, the rapid response to these systemic therapies can even [allow them to avoid] having a tracheostomy, and we’re also seeing that some of these patients are able to go from unresectable disease to resectable disease, and then by having the main tumor out, their survival improves.
“So, this is definitely a big ray of hope for these patients.”
Dr. Cabanillas has received research funding from Merck. Dr. Hamidi has disclosed no relevant financial relationships. Dr. Salgado has relationships with Lilly and Exelixis.
A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.