RE:RE:Merck' anti-PD-1 Keytruda fails as a monotherapy with chemoAugust 29, 2024 - Merck's checkpoint inhibitor Keytruda fails as a monotherapy when added to radiation treatment.
During a planned interim analysis, Keytruda’s addition to radiation not only failed to improve patients’ risk of disease worsening or death, but it led to higher rates of adverse events, including ones that resulted in death, Merck said.
In addition, a combination of Keytruda and Merck’s investigational anti-TIGIT antibody vibostolimab was found to be less effective than the chemotherapy docetaxel in a phase 2 trial in previously treated metastatic NSCLC. Merck still has three ongoing phase 3 trials for MK-7684A, a fixed-dose combo of Keytruda and vibostolimab, in different NSCLC settings.
In a second setback for Keytruda that Merck unveiled Thursday, the New Jersey pharma is discontinuing the phase 3 KEYNOTE-630 trial for Keytruda as an adjuvant treatment in patients with high-risk locally advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) following surgery and radiation.
In the wake of Merck’s latest setback, the search for a viable PD-1/L1 inhibitor in stage 1 or 2 unresected NSCLC is still ongoing for at least one other company. AstraZeneca is conducting the phase 3 PACIFIC-4 trial, testing the addition of its PD-L1 inhibitor Imfinzi to radiotherapy in a similar design to Merck’s KEYNOTE-867 trial. The AZ study started about three months earlier than its Merck counterpart, and it has a separate cohort examining the British pharma’s Tagrisso following radiotherapy in EGFR-mutant tumors.
https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/mercks-keytruda-flunks-early-stage-lung-and-skin-cancer-tests