Merck & Co reports strong new data sets for Keytruda at ESMO

US pharma giant Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) on Sunday presented results from two major studies of Keytruda (pembrolizumab), its anti-PD-1 therapy, in the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) at the ESMO 2016 Congress, the annual meeting of the European Society for Medical Oncology. The company’s shares gained 2.27% to $64.20 in morning trading Monday.

In KEYNOTE-024, which evaluated squamous and non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients whose tumors expressed high levels of PD-L1 (tumor proportion score, or TPS, of 50% or more), Keytruda provided a 50% reduction in the risk of disease progression or death and a 40% reduction in the risk of death compared to platinum doublet, the current standard of care. These data were also published today in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Based upon the results observed from KEYNOTE-024, to date Keytruda is the only anti-PD-1 to demonstrate superior progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) compared to chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of both squamous and non-squamous NSCLC in patients whose tumors express high levels of PD-L1 and do not express EGFR or ALK genetic aberrations.