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Merck silences doubters with cancer breakthrough

The US pharma giant has extended its lead over competitors in the race to be the best at treating lung cancer
January 17, 2018

Towards the end of 2017, nervous investors grew concerned that Merck’s (MRK) novel cancer drug, Keytruda, used in combination with traditional chemotherapy, would not be able to replicate the success it had as a standalone treatment. Initial results from a pivotal patient trial have quelled concerns.

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The study found that together Keytruda and chemotherapy were more effective than chemo alone in both halting the progression of lung cancer and – more importantly – prolonging patients’ lives. The upshot is that Keytruda has now been approved as the first line of treatment for lung cancer patients both alone and as a combination therapy. This means that nearly all new US lung cancer patients – of which there are 234,030 every year – will be prescribed Keytruda.

The result has quashed concerns that surfaced at the end of 2017 when Merck pulled the plug on a mid-stage Keytruda-chemo trial in Europe. Investors were worried that the drug combination might not work, despite management’s assurances that the study was being postponed due to a small number of patients. Keytruda sales totalled $1bn (£726m) during the third quarter of 2017. Merck’s US-listed shares rose 6 per cent on the day of the announcement.

But the hard work is not yet over for Merck: Bristol-Myers Squibb (US: BMY), AstraZeneca (AZN) and Roche (CH: ROG) are all vying for its spot as the leader in lung cancer treatment. All three are currently trialling immunotherapies like Keytruda (which use the body’s own immune system to fight cancer) in combination with chemo and, if they are successful, Merck will have to prove that the Keytruda combo works better than its rivals.