A Promising Treatment Combination
- Data presented at the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting show that combining sacituzumab govitecan [brand name: Todelvy], a drug known as an antibody drug conjugate, with pembrolizumab [brand name: Keytruda] can help patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer live longer without their cancer progressing.
- Study results from the ASCENT-04/KEYNOTE-D19 clinical trial show that a combination of sacituzumab govitecan and pembrolizumab led to a 35% lower risk of cancer progression when compared to the current standard of treatment.
- The study was created to better understand how effective the combination was as a first treatment for patients battling unresectable (non-operable) locally advanced or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer that had high levels of a protein called PD-L1.
- Dr. Nancy Chan, the director of breast cancer clinical research at NYU Langone Perlmutter Cancer Center, describes the research as “practice-changing.”
Results from a study called ASCENT-04/KEYNOTE-D19 show that the sacituzumab govitecan, pembrolizumab combination led to a 35% lower risk of cancer progressing compared to chemotherapy plus pembrolizumab (the current standard treatment) for patients with unresectable (not operable) locally-advanced or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer that expressed high levels of a protein called PD-L1
Read MoreHow Does Trodelvy Work?
As for how the drug, sacituzumab govitecan-hziy, works, Dr. Chan describes it as an antibody drug conjugate.“I like to think of it as a targeted way of delivering chemotherapy that is effective and the side effect profile can be well managed with close communication with your treating physician,” she says.
“This study [was] a randomized study that demonstrated in the frontline setting that the sacituzumab govitecan-hziy plus immunotherapy with pembrolizumab significantly improved the progression-free survival. So, helping patients to live longer with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer.”
RELATED: New Drug Combo Can Keep HER2-Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer Under Control For Longer
What Did The Data Show?
The median follow-up time for patients was 14 months. Patients treated with sacituzumab govitecan and pembrolizumab had a progression-free survival of 11.2 months vs. 7.8 months in the chemotherapy and pembrolizumab arm.
This translates to a 35% lower risk of cancer progression in the sacituzumab govitecan and pembrolizumab group compared to the chemotherapy group.
The median duration of response was 16.5 months for the sacituzumab govitecan and pembrolizumab arm vs. 9.2 months for the chemotherapy arm.
Questions To Ask Your Doctor
- Am I a candidate for the sacituzumab govitecan, pembrolizumab combination?
- How is the medication administered, and how often?
- How do the possible side effects compare to the current standard treatment?
- How will my quality of life be tracked and supported during treatment?
- What is the cost of this treatment? Will my insurance cover it?
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.
