Hint of gloss comes off Keytruda as trials are halted

6 July 2017

Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) looked set to open 1% down on Thursday at around $63.50 after some rare bad news relating to Keytruda (pembrolizumab).

The anti-PD-1 therapy has been leading the immuno-oncology charge in multiple cancer types, but the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday placed a clinical hold on three multiple myeloma studies of Keytruda in combination with other drugs.

This decision follows a review of data by the Data Monitoring Committee in which more deaths were observed in the Keytruda arms of the KEYNOTE-183 and KEYNOTE-185 studies, leading to the pause in new patient enrollment announced last month.

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