Dr. Reardon on Pembrolizumab and Bevacizumab for Glioblastoma

David A. Reardon, MD, clinical director, Center for Neuro-Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses pembrolizumab (Keytruda) and bevacizumab (Avastin) for the treatment of patients with recurrent PD-L1—positive glioblastoma.

Data from the phase II study presented at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting suggest that the combination is well tolerated, but pembrolizumab has limited monotherapy activity when given with the standard FDA-approved dose of bevacizumab. The activity of the combination was, in fact, comparable with bevacizumab monotherapy. Preclinical data show that VEGF is not only a critical driver of tumor angiogenesis, but it also plays a key role in immunosuppression.

Preclinical studies indicated that immunotherapy added to an antiangiogenic agent led to an enhanced response in VEGF blockade.