Pembrolizumab in Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer

Abstract

To the Editor: Reck et al. (Nov. 10 issue)1 found that the efficacy of pembrolizumab was superior to that of chemotherapy (including carboplatin–paclitaxel) as first-line therapy in patients with metastatic programmed death 1 ligand (PD-L1)–overexpressing non–small-cell lung cancers (NSCLCs) that do not have epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) or anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) molecular abnormalities. The standard regimen choices did not include carboplatin–paclitaxel–bevacizumab or carboplatin–albumin-bound paclitaxel (nab-paclitaxel). Carboplatin–paclitaxel–bevacizumab has been associated with longer overall survival than carboplatin–paclitaxel in patients with non–squamous-cell NSCLC.2 This combination therapy has been endorsed by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) as . . .