{"entity":{"id":"paper-c-post-adjuvant-cemiplimab-nejm-2025","kind":"paper","name":"C-POST: adjuvant cemiplimab versus placebo in high-risk cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma","aka":[],"tldr":"A year of cemiplimab after surgery and radiotherapy for high-risk cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma cut the risk of recurrence or death by more than two thirds, the first adjuvant therapy to work in this skin cancer.","summary":"Phase 3 placebo-controlled trial of 415 patients with cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma at high risk of recurrence after surgery and postoperative radiotherapy (nodal disease with extracapsular extension, in-transit metastases, perineural invasion or recurrent tumours) randomised to cemiplimab or placebo for up to 48 weeks.\n\nDisease-free survival at 24 months was 87.1 versus 64.1 percent (hazard ratio 0.32), with reductions in both locoregional and distant recurrence; grade 3 or higher adverse events were 23.9 versus 14.2 percent.","asOf":"2026-09-17","links":[{"label":"N Engl J Med 2025","url":"https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2502449"},{"label":"PubMed","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40454639/"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":["advanced-cutaneous-scc"],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":["cemiplimab"],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":["nejm"],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"journal":"New England Journal of Medicine","year":2025,"doi":"10.1056/NEJMoa2502449","pmid":"40454639","authors":"Rischin D, Porceddu S, Day F, et al.","paperType":"rct","findings":["24-month disease-free survival 87.1 percent vs 64.1 percent; hazard ratio 0.32.","Freedom from locoregional recurrence hazard ratio 0.20; from distant recurrence 0.35."],"whatItMeans":"Adjuvant cemiplimab is a new standard for high-risk cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma after surgery and radiotherapy, particularly in patients with extracapsular nodal extension.","caveats":["Overall survival data immature.","Immunosuppressed and transplant patients, who bear much of the disease burden, were excluded."],"changedPractice":true,"participants":415},"route":"/key-papers/paper-c-post-adjuvant-cemiplimab-nejm-2025/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"advanced-cutaneous-scc","kind":"cancer","name":"Advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma","route":"/cancers/advanced-cutaneous-scc/"}],"drug":[{"id":"cemiplimab","kind":"drug","name":"Cemiplimab","route":"/drugs/cemiplimab/"}],"journal":[{"id":"nejm","kind":"journal","name":"New England Journal of Medicine","route":"/journals/nejm/"}]}}