Pembrolizumab - Keytruda

Pembrolizumab (Keytruda®), which received FDA approval on 2 October 2015, is used in patients previously given platinum-containing chemotherapy, whose tumor surface carries the PD-L1 (Programmed Death Ligand 1 = programmed death ligand) molecule, with disease spread to distant tissues (metastatic), and non-small cell lung cancer . Cancer cells use the PD L1 molecule on their surface to evade our defense system. This molecule binds to a T cell, a component of the immune system, through the PD 1 receptor on its surface and can thus evade the defense system.

Pembrolizumab blocks this binding, thereby allowing the immune system to more easily recognize and destroy cancer cells. Its most common reported side effects are fatigue, reduced appetite, difficulty breathing and cough.