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Noaiditoday at 3:24 PM3 repliesview on HN

I for one would like to see the data rather than a press release. Is this even serious? A press release with no link to outside twitter?

I feel like everything companies, and presidents, say now is directly geared to triggering AI trades.

The only thing they are looking at with this drug is people living one more month over existing drugs.

THIS IS NOTHING.

"The median PFS (progression-free survival) for KEYTRUDA was 5.5 months (2-week group) and 4.1 months (3-week group) compared to 2.8 months for ipilimumab (HR 0.58, P<0.00001 for the KEYTRUDA groups vs. ipilimumab,"

https://www.merck.com/news/keytruda-pembrolizumab-mercks-ant...

The median PFS (progression-free survival) for KEYTRUDA was 5.5 months (2-week group) and 4.1 months (3-week group) compared to 2.8 months for ipilimumab (HR 0.58, P<0.00001 for the KEYTRUDA groups vs. ipilimumab, 95% CI, 0.46-0.72 for 2-week group and 0.47-0.72 for 3-week group, respectively). The estimated 6-month PFS rates for the KEYTRUDA and ipilimumab arms were 47.3 percent, 46.4 percent and 26.5 percent, respectively. One-year OS for KEYTRUDA was 74.1 percent (2-week group) and 68.4 percent (3-week group) compared to 58.2 percent for ipilimumab (HR 0.63 [95% CI, 0.47-0.83, P=0.00052] for the 2-week group and HR 0.69 [95% CI, 0.52-0.90, P=0.00358] for the 3-week group). At the time of analysis, median overall survival was not reached in any treatment group.


Replies

calebkaisertoday at 3:46 PM

1. That's not what progression-free survival means.

2. I don't think AI was mentioned once in this press release.

3. This drug was approved for trial in 2014, so if it had something to do with deep learning, that would actually be a massive announcement.

4. The paragraph immediately following the one you clipped talks about Overall Response Rate (ORR) and throughout the release they discuss Overall Survival (OS).

5. This is not "NOTHING" in statistical terms, but even more so to people with melanoma.

show 1 reply
hyperhellotoday at 3:29 PM

No it isn’t. They did a test with great specificity and got undeniable P values. Now they can refine the action and start saving people. This is a huge, huge win.

lakhimtoday at 4:13 PM

you're also looking at a different, older study. Keytruda is a little strange in that it has a very long tail in survivorship, works best in certain cases, and median PFS isn't a really great metric.