Text

Background: Pembrolizumab was the drug that incurred the highest costs for statutory health insurance in Germany in 2023. Using real-world data, we aimed to characterize patients treated with pembrolizumab in Germany and describe their overall survival.

Materials and Methods: Using claims data, we included patients treated with pembrolizumab between 2015 and 2022. We characterized them regarding age, sex, and type of cancer and described their overall survival after the first administration of pembrolizumab.

Results: Among 9,937 included pembrolizumab users, the majority had lung cancer (58%), followed by melanoma (11%), and urothelial cancer (7%). Median age was 69 years; 26% of female and 30% of male patients were >75 years. Overall, 26% of patients died within 4 months after first administration of pembrolizumab. Among lung cancer patients, 26% of females and 31% of males died within four months. In melanoma patients, this proportion was 12% in both sexes.

Conclusion: One quarter of pembrolizumab users died within a short period of time after the first administration. These findings underscore the need to improve the identification of patients who are less likely to benefit from pembrolizumab in order to minimize the treatment burden in the terminal phase and improve resource allocation in the healthcare system.