MSD

Merk (MSD) has announced positive data from its Phase III Clear/Keynote-581 trial on Keytruda (pembrolizumab) plus Lenvima (lenvatinib), and Lenvima plus everolimus versus sunitinib for the first-line treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

In an analysis of a secondary endpoint of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) scores in the Clear/Keynote-581 trial, Keytruda plus Lenvima and Lenvima plus everolimus were evaluated to determine the impact on HRQoL compared to sunitinib in patients with advanced RCC.

The use of avelumab for maintenance treatment of locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer after platinum-based chemotherapy is not recommended by NICE following an announcement on May 6.

The FDA has granted priority review for Merck (MSD) and Eisai’s application for two new approvals for the combination of Merck’s KEYTRUDA and Eisai’s LENVIMA for the treatment of certain kidney and uterus cancers. 

Image credit: MAXSHOT.PL/Shutterstock

Merck (MSD) have ended the development of their MK-7110 drug for the treatment of hospitalised patients with COVID-19.

MSD has announced a provisional agreement with the NHS to make KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab) available for eligible patients with metastatic MSI-H/dMMR colorectal cancer, as an interim treatment option during the COVID-19 pandemic period.

MSD’s pembrolizumab was granted a European license in January based on data from MSD’s KEYNOTE-177 study. The interim treatment guidance announced today will allow the use of pembrolizumab in England, within its licensed indication, for the first-line treatment of adult patients with metastatic MSI-H/dMMR colorectal cancer.

A new precision drug combination, olaparib with bevacizumab, will now be available on the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) for ovarian cancer treatment following its approval by NICE, AstraZeneca and MSD announced today.

The two drugs can now be used as a maintenance treatment for patients with advanced ovarian, fallopian tube, and peritoneal cancer, after complete or partial response to first-line platinum-based chemotherapy and bevacizumab, who have tested positive for homologous recombination deficiency (HRD). 

Gilead and MSD, known as Merck in the US and Canada, have entered into an agreement to co-develop and co-commercialise long-acting HIV treatments.

The treatments will combine Gilead’s investigational capsid inhibitor, lenacapavir, and MSD’s investigational nucleoside reverse transcriptase translocation inhibitor, islatravir, into a two-drug regimen for people living with HIV.

MSD, known as Merck in the United States and Canada, has announced that it will acquire clinical-stage biotechnology company Pandion Therapeutics for $60 per share in cash, or approximately $1.85 billion.

Pandion is advancing a pipeline of precision immune modulators targeting critical immune control nodes. The company’s lead candidate, PT101, is an engineered IL-2 mutein fused to a protein backbone designed to selectively activate and expand regulatory T cells for the potential treatment of ulcerative colitis and other autoimmune diseases.

The OlympiA Phase III trial for AstraZeneca and MSD’s cancer drug Lynparza will move to early primary analysis and reporting, following a recommendation from the Independent Data Monitoring Committee (IDMC).

NICE has recommended MSD’s Keytruda (pembrolizumab) with pemetrexed and platinum chemotherapy (pembrolizumab combination) as a first-line option for untreated, metastatic, non-squamous non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in adults whose tumours have no epidermal growth factor receptor-positive or anaplastic lymphoma kinase-positive mutations, and whether or not tumours are PD-L1 positive.