Pembrolizumab is the first immune checkpoint inhibitor to receive approval for head and neck cancer

The first immune checkpoint inhibitor was approved for the treatment of head and neck cancer approved in August 2016. Pembrolizumab, which targets the programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) protein, is designed to reinstate the anti-tumor immune response to kill cancer cells and was approved for the treatment of recurrent or metastatic disease that progressed during or after platinum-containing chemotherapy.

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