Mer­ck notch­es fourth lung can­cer ap­proval in Eu­rope for flag­ship Keytru­da

Mer­ck’s key­stone im­munother­a­py Keytru­da has won yet an­oth­er lung can­cer ap­proval in Eu­rope, this time as the first line of de­fense for pa­tients with metasta­t­ic squa­mous non-small cell lung can­cer (NSCLC), on the ba­sis of tri­al da­ta that showed the drug — as part of a chemother­a­py com­bo — cut the risk of death by 36% ver­sus chemother­a­py alone.

The check­point in­hibitor is al­ready ap­proved as a monother­a­py or as part of a com­bo in var­i­ous forms of lung can­cer: as a front­line treat­ment in pa­tients with metasta­t­ic non­squa­mous NSCLC; first-line treat­ment in metasta­t­ic squa­mous or non­squa­mous NSCLC in adults whose tu­mors have high PD-L1 ex­pres­sion; and in lo­cal­ly ad­vanced or metasta­t­ic NSCLC in adults whose tu­mors ex­press PD-L1 and who have re­ceived at least one pri­or chemother­a­py reg­i­men.

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