KEYNOTE-021 cohorts D and H suggest modest benefit in combining ipilimumab with pembrolizumab in second-line or later advanced non-small cell lung cancer treatment

With 15 new non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) United States Food & Drug Association (FDA) approvals in the past 5 years, the alignment of academia, pharmaceutical companies, and government regulatory agencies to develop better cancer therapies and quickly make them available to patients has led to a rapidly evolving standard-of-care (1). While undoubtedly beneficial to NSCLC patients, one ramification is that the environment in which a clinical trial is designed may not be same one in which its results are reported. Such is the case with KEYNOTE-021 Cohorts D and H (KN-021 D/H) (2).