Pembrolizumab

Pembrolizumab is a highly selective IgG4-kappa humanized monoclonal antibody against PD-1 receptors. It was generated by grafting the variable sequences of a very high-affinity mouse antihuman PD-1 antibody onto a human IgG4-kappa isotype containing a stabilizing S228P Fc mutation.[A18829] It contains 32 cysteine residues and the complete folded molecule includes 4 disulfide linkages as interchain bonds and 23 interchain bonds.[F136] It was developed by Merck & Co and first approved for the treatment of metastatic malignant melanoma by the FDA on September 4, 2014,[L2954] becoming the first approved therapy against PD-1.[A7624] In the time since its initial approval, pembrolizumab has been granted approval in the treatment of a wide variety of cancers.[L38934,L43257]