A groundbreaking clinical trial has found that combining sacituzumab govitecan with pembrolizumab significantly improves survival rates for patients with unresectable, locally advanced or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. The treatment duo outperformed chemotherapy and pembrolizumab in terms of progression-free survival and disease control.
The ASCENT-04/KEYNOTE-D19 trial enrolled 443 patients from 26 countries and randomly assigned them to receive either sacituzumab govitecan and pembrolizumab or chemotherapy and pembrolizumab. After a median follow-up period of 14 months, patients treated with sacituzumab govitecan and pembrolizumab showed improved progression-free survival rates compared to those in the control group.
The treatment also demonstrated fewer side effects, including neutropenia and diarrhea. Researchers believe that this combination will become a new standard of care for metastatic triple-negative breast cancer patients.
Further studies are planned to confirm the overall survival benefit of sacituzumab govitecan and pembrolizumab compared to chemotherapy and pembrolizumab. The drug combination is also being explored in other patient populations, including those with HER2-negative breast cancer.
Source: https://ascopost.com/news/may-2025/sacituzumab-govitecan-and-pembrolizumab-improve-disease-control-in-advanced-pd-l1-positive-tnbc