Merck's Cancer Drug Keytruda Meets Primary Endpoint in Phase 3 Trial
April 08 2021 - 6:31AM
Dow Jones News
By Matt Grossman
Merck & Co. Inc.'s Keytruda drug met the primary endpoint of
a Phase 3 trial to evaluate its use in treating an additional form
of cancer, the Kenilworth, N.J.-based pharmaceutical company said
Thursday.
The trial evaluated Keytruda's use as an adjuvant treatment for
people with renal cell carcinoma following a nephrectomy, or a
nephrectomy and the resection of metastatic lesions. Nephrectomy is
the removal of a kidney. In the trial, which included 950 patients,
subjects received either Keytruda or a placebo.
Keytruda led to a meaningful improvement in disease-free
survival compared with the placebo in the trial, Merck said.
Researchers will continue to evaluate overall survival among the
patients in the trial.
Dr. Roy Baynes, Merck Research Laboratories' chief medical
officer, said the company would share detailed results from the
trial with regulators as soon as possible.
Keytruda, or pembrolizumab, has already been approved in the
U.S. for roles in treating other forms of cancer.
Write to Matt Grossman at matt.grossman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 08, 2021 07:16 ET (11:16 GMT)
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