Merck's Keytruda Plus Chemotherapy Reduces Risk Of Death By One-Third In Metastatic Cervical Cancer

(RTTNews) - Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) said it presented the full results from the pivotal Phase 3 KEYNOTE-826 trial at the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress 2021. The trial investigated the company's anti-PD-1 therapy KEYTRUDA in combination with chemotherapy with or without bevacizumab for the first-line treatment of persistent, recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer. The data were also simultaneously published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

This is the first combination regimen with an anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy to improve overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS) and objective response rate (ORR) compared to chemotherapy with or without bevacizumab as a first-line treatment of persistent, recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer, the company said.

KEYTRUDA plus chemotherapy (paclitaxel plus cisplatin or paclitaxel plus carboplatin) with or without bevacizumab (KEYTRUDA plus chemo ± bev) reduced the risk of death by one-third, or 33%, versus chemotherapy with or without bevacizumab (chemo ± bev).

The company said it is rapidly advancing an extensive clinical development program for Keytruda and several other investigational and approved medicines across gynecologic cancers, including evaluating Keytruda for the treatment of locally advanced cervical cancer.