Tom -
It was so nice to see your post. I have been thinking about you lately and wondering how you are doing.
However, I'm sorry to hear that your
Keytruda® (pembrolizumab) trial seems to have stopped working. How many cycles have you had so far -- around 25? How many quarterly follow-up scans have you had so far -- around 6? And when did they first start noticing a diminished response?
According to the protocol, you can have up to 35 cycles (about 2 years) of treatment, so they could conceivably continue treatment until this November. But are you saying that they might be stopping your participation before the 35th cycle? If so, I hope they can line up another trial appropriate for MSI-H patients in your situation.
Apparently no preliminary results have been posted for your trial so far, but I was wondering if your oncologist might have some informal comments on how other patients in the trial have been doing. Does it look like Keytruda® might hold promise for eventual approval in the case of colorectal cancer? Right now, Keytruda® is an approved treatment and is stocked in hospital pharmacies, but it is only officially approved for use with four indications -- advanced melanoma, advanced non small-cell lung cancer, head and neck squamous cell cancer, and Hodgkin lymphoma. I know there are some people here who are eagerly awaiting the results of the Keytruda® trial with colorectal cancer.