Merck’s Keytruda delivers reduced risk of death in adjuvant NSCLC
pharmafile | March 21, 2022 | News story | Sales and Marketing |
Merck has announced positive results from its Phase III trial into Keytruda for non-small cell lung cancer.
The KEYNOTE-091 study found that patients who received adjuvant treatment with Keytruda (pembrolizumab) saw a 24% reduced risk of disease recurrence or death, compared to those who were given a placebo. Disease-free survival (DFS) is one of the study’s primary endpoints, alongside improvement in DFS for patients whose tumours express PD-L1.
Researchers also observed that the median DFS for those who received Keytruda was 53.6 months, or about a year better compared to just 42 months in the placebo group. Details of these findings are presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Virtual Plenary.
The study’s result marks a significant event, as this is the first positive outcome reported for the injectable drug in the adjuvant setting for NSCLC. It is also the sixth study delivering positive results involving the use of Keytruda in early stages of cancer.
Keytruda is an anti-programmed death receptor-1 therapy that works by boosting the immune system’s ability to detect and fight tumour cells. It is being analysed in over 1,700 clinical trials worldwide for various cancer and therapy settings. It is currently indicated for the first-line treatment of patients with NSCLC expressing PD-L1, based on an FDA-approved test, with disease progression on or after platinum-containing chemotherapy.
“Keytruda has become foundational in the treatment of metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, and we are pleased to present these data showing the potential of Keytruda to help more patients with lung cancer in earlier stages of disease. We thank the patients, their caregivers and investigators for participating in this study,” commented Dr Roy Baynes, the senior vice president and head of global clinical development CMO of Merck Research Laboratories, in a statement.
Lina Adams
