Immunotherapy before surgery kept bowel cancer away for 33 months

In the NEOPRISM-CRC trial, 32 patients with stage two or three MMR-deficient/MSI-high bowel cancer received up to nine weeks of pembrolizumab before surgery. After 33 months of follow-up, none of the patients had a recurrence, compared with an expected relapse rate of around 25% within three years under standard surgery plus chemotherapy.

• 32 patients received pembrolizumab before surgery instead of post-op chemotherapy
• No cancer recurrence was seen after 33 months of follow-up
• Standard treatment carries an expected ~25% relapse rate within three years
• Personalized blood tests predicted response to the therapy