Keytruda success a crowning moment for cancer immunotherapies, but are more on their way?

8 June 2017

The accelerated US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the first ever chemotherapy and immuno-oncology (I-O) combination as a first-line therapy in lung cancer last month is described by Frédéric Triebel, the man nicknamed the ‘grandfather of I-O’, as “a moment that changes everything”.

Merck & Co’s Keytruda (pembrolizumab) won this race on showing an improved response in combination with chemotherapy, sending the company's share price surging up by 4% on the news, with analysts predicting that Keytruda will generate nearly $7 billion in sales by 20201.

By then the total immuno-oncology market will be worth more than $19 billion, and by 2024 this will have risen to $34 billion, predicts the research and consulting firm GlobalData.

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