Merck expands Keytruda collaboration with Amgen and announces head and neck cancer results

US pharma giant Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) and USA-based Amgen (Nasdaq: AMGN), a leading independent biotech firm, have announced an expansion to an existing collaboration on Keytruda (pembrolizumab).

Under the collaboration, the companies plan to conduct a Phase I study evaluating Keytruda in combination with the oncolytic immunotherapy talimogene  laherparepvec (T-Vec) in patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. They will initiate a Phase Iii study of the combination in regionally or distantly metastatic melanoma.

Sean Harper, executive vice president of R&D at Amgen said: "we believe that [T-Vec] has potential in several cancer types based on its proposed mechanism of action to initiate tumor antigen release and presentation, important steps in activating a systemic anti-tumour immune response."