Keytuda,once two years of treatment is completed how long does it keep working for?

I had lung cancer diagnosis 2015 upper lobectomy ,adjuvant chemo as belt and braces .In 2017 had cardiac and brain mets had brain stereotactic radiotherapy that seemed to work for a while .In January 2019 I started Keytruda for further cardiac and brain mets and cancer is currently stable .It is not a cure but offers more time and a stable cancer .I am now wandering how others have got on with this treatment and how long this stability carries on for in reality .Has anyone lived beyond the 5yrs with this treatment once it is completed after 2years .Although it has not been available generally for very long I just wandered if anyone had been on a trial and managed to keep going for longer .I am very pleased I am still here thank goodness for the NHS.So no complaints from me !

[RoyCastleHelpline Partner Ask the Nurse Roy Castle]

Dear Diane55

It is quite amazing what you have been through and how these new drugs have provided more time for you. Hope you are keeping well.

Current evidence suggests that stopping immunotherapy after two years does not stop the patient’s response to it. This is because the immune system becomes re-programmed to better recognize cancer cells.

You may find the article below from the American Society of Clinical Oncology on interest as some of the data shows a 5 year survival rate ( some went beyond the 5 years) depending on the percentage of the PD-L1 expression.

ascopost.com/News/60097

This article from Yale University published Feb 2020 reports on the keynote001 trial on the predicted long term survival of PD-L1 with Keytruda:

medicine.yale.edu/news-arti...

Hope there will be some encouraging responses for you from those on the forum.

If you wish to discuss anything you can either email us at [e-mail] or call our freephone nurse helpline on 0800 358 7200

Kind regards

The Roy Castle Support Team

[kabristanarchives in reply to RoyCastleHelpline]

Thanks your reply was helpful to me as well.