Merck Tops as Lung Cancer Treatment Moves Past Chemotherapy
- Patients on Keytruda live 10 months without cancer worsening
- Cancer conference data puts Merck ahead of drugmaker rivals
Lung cancer treatment is moving beyond chemotherapy, with Merck & Co. setting the pace in a new category of therapies that harness the body’s immune system to fight tumors.
The U.S. drugmaker’s Keytruda medicine reduced the risk of death or cancer progression by 50 percent, Merck said, unveiling details of a crucial study at a meeting of the European Society for Medical Oncology. The medicine gave patients an average of 10.3 months before their cancer progressed, compared with six months on chemotherapy. Unlike competitor Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., whose similar drug Opdivo failed in an advanced trial and caused its stock to plunge, Merck selected patients who harbored high levels of a protein thought to predict how well the immune-system drugs will work.