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MV Chandrakanth: SBRT Plus Pembrolizumab in Early-Stage NSCLC
MV Chandrakanth/X

MV Chandrakanth: SBRT Plus Pembrolizumab in Early-Stage NSCLC

MV Chandrakanth, Academic Head and Medical Oncologist at Narayana Health, shared on X:

“KEYNOTE-867 | JCO 2026

SBRT + Pembrolizumab in Early-Stage NSCLC: More Toxicity, No Survival Benefit! Phase III | n = 448 | Unresected stage I–II NSCLC

  • EFS: 31.2 vs 28.3 months (HR 0.92; P = .2932) — no significant benefit.
  • OS: HR 1.33 (95% CI 0.93–1.90) — unfavourable numerical signal, not statistically established.
  • Grade 3–5 toxicity: 20.4% vs 3.7%.
  • Treatment-related deaths: 5 vs 0.
  • Age <65: Exploratory EFS signal (HR 0.48), but CI crosses unity.

Clinical takeaway

Adding pembrolizumab to SBRT increases toxicity without proven efficacy. SBRT alone remains the standard for medically inoperable early-stage NSCLC.”

Title: KEYNOTE-867: A Phase III, Randomized, Double-Blind Study of Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy With Pembrolizumab for Unresected Stage I or II Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer

Authors: Salma K. Jabbour, Szabolcs Sótér, Michael Eaton, Gabriella Gálffy, Dariusz Kowalski, Akito Hata, Augusto Valdivia, Nikolaj Frost, Evgeny Levchenko, Mariana Monteiro, Anoop Haridass, Myriam Bouchard, Ki Hyeong Lee, Myung-Ju Ahn, Brett G.M. Hughes, André Durham, Yan Xu, Ayman Samkari, Andrew Song, Andreas Pircher

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KEYNOTE-867 Phase III: Pembrolizumab Plus SBRT Fails to Improve Event-Free Survival and Increases Severe Toxicity in Early-Stage NSCLC
MV Chandrakanth: SBRT Plus Pembrolizumab in Early-Stage NSCLC

Akito Hata André Durham Andreas Pircher Andrew Song Anoop Haridass Augusto Valdivia Ayman Samkari Brett G. M. Hughes cancer Dariusz Kowalski Evgeny Levchenko Gabriella Gálffy Ki Hyeong Lee Lung cancer Mariana Monteiro Michael Eaton MV Chandrakanth Myriam Bouchard Myung-Ju Ahn Nikolaj Frost NSCLC OncoDaily Oncology pembrolizumab Salma K. Jabbour SBRT Szabolcs Sótér Yan Xu