An extended overall survival analysis of pemetrexed and carboplatin with or without pembrolizumab as first-line therapy for advanced non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer

Some non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have “Driver” genomic abnormalities, such as epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR), anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) abnormal fusion, mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) amplification etc. There are various targeted agents developed directed against these mutations, with significant improvement in outcomes (1,2). However, in the majority of NSCLC patients without any molecular targets, a doublet platinum-based therapy has been used as first-line therapy in combination with different agents such as pemetrexed (a folate metabolite) (3).