Keytruda and Pneumonitis

• Generic Name: pembrolizumab
• Dosage Forms: injection, powder, lyophilized, for solution
• Other Brand Names: Keytruda

Keytruda (pembrolizumab) is a cancer medicine that interferes with the growth and spread of cancer cells in the body.

Keytruda is used alone or in combination with other medicines to treat certain types of cancer such as:

• advanced skin cancer (melanoma or Merkel cell carcinoma);

• lung cancer;

• small cell lung cancer;

• head and neck cancer;

• classical Hodgkin lymphoma in adults and children;

• primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma;

• cancer of the kidney, bladder, and urinary tract;

• liver;

• cancer of the cervix or uterus;

• advanced stomach cancer if your tumor tests positive for "PD-L1" and has a specific genetic marker (an abnormal "HER2/neu" gene);

• a type of cancer called squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus;

• a type of liver cancer called hepatocellular carcinoma, after you have received the medicine sorafenib;

• a type of kidney cancer called renal cell carcinoma (RCC) when used in combination with the medicine axitinib; or

• a type of uterine cancer called endometrial carcinoma when used in combination with the medicine lenvatinib.

Keytruda is often given when the cancer has spread to other parts of the body, or cannot be surgically removed, or when other cancer treatments did not work or have stopped working.

For some types of cancer, Keytruda is given only if your tumor tests positive for "PD-L1", or if the tumor has a specific genetic marker (an abnormal "EGFR," "ALK," or "HER2/neu" gene).