Merck (NYSE:MRK) shares pointed downward Wednesday, on word its cancer therapy Keytruda failed to meet the main goal of a late-stage trial testing it in patients with head and neck cancer.
The company said Keytruda, its blockbuster cancer drug, in combination with chemoraditation therapy showed improvement in event-free survival, or the period of time a patient remains free of complications compared to a placebo.
However, the results did not meet statistical significance.
Keytruda showed a safety profile similar to previously reported studies, according to Merck.
The drug belongs to a class of treatments called PD-1 inhibitors, which work by boosting the immune system’s ability to fight cancer cells.
“There have been limited advances for patients with locally advanced HNSCC, and unfortunately, these results suggest that this disease remains very challenging to treat,” said Dr. Eliav Barr, senior vice president, head of global clinical development and chief medical officer, Merck Research Laboratories.
“We are proud of the significant role KEYTRUDA plays in the treatment of certain later stages of HNSCC, and we are committed to investigating KEYTRUDA-based regimens for this debilitating type of cancer in earlier stages of disease. We are grateful to the patients and investigators for their participation in this study.”
KEYTRUDA is currently approved as monotherapy and in combination regimens for appropriate patients with metastatic or with unresectable, recurrent HNSCC in the U.S., Europe, China, Japan and other countries around the world.
Merck currently has the largest immuno-oncology clinical development program in HNSCC and is continuing to advance multiple registration-enabling studies investigating KEYTRUDA as monotherapy and in combination with other medicines, including KEYNOTE-689 for the neoadjuvant and adjuvant treatment of resectable locally advanced HNSCC.
MRK shares lost $1.08, or 1.2%, at Wednesday’s open to $91.28.
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