Merck: Two Phase 3 Keytruda Studies Miss Targets
03 August 2022 - 1:48PM
Dow Jones News
By Colin Kellaher
Merck & Co. on Wednesday said a pair of Phase 3 studies of
its blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda fell short of their goals.
The Kenilworth, N.J., drugmaker said a study evaluating Keytruda
in combination with chemotherapy compared with chemotherapy alone
didn't meet its primary endpoints of overall survival and
radiographic progression-free survival in patients with metastatic
castration-resistant prostate cancer.
Merck said that while there were modest trends toward an
improvement in both endpoints for patients who received the
combination, the results didn't meet statistical significance.
Separately, Merck said a study investigating Keytruda plus Eisai
Co.'s Lenvima missed its primary endpoints of overall survival and
progression-free survival as a first-line treatment for patients
with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common type of
primary liver cancer.
Eisai and Merck in March 2018 formed a collaboration to jointly
develop, manufacture and commercialize Lenvima as monotherapy and
in combination with Keytruda.
Merck said it remains confident in the potential of the
combination, and it will continue to investigate its role across
multiple types of cancer. The companies are studying the
combination in more than 10 different tumor types across more than
15 clinical trials.
Keytruda, a cancer drug that harnesses a patient's immune system
to fight tumors, is approved in dozens of indications around the
world and had sales topping $17 billion last year.
Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 03, 2022 07:33 ET (11:33 GMT)
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