UK to fund use of Keytruda combo in first-line cancer setting

In the UK, the health technology assessor has ruled in favor of reimbursing a new use for Merck & Co’s (NYSE: MRK) Keytruda (pembrolizumab).

The decision covers use of the leading checkpoint blocker, together with chemotherapy, for the first line treatment of certain people with gastric or gastro-oesophageal junction adenocarcinoma.

Gastric cancer, the fifth most common cancer globally, sees over 6,500 new cases annually in the UK and often goes undetected until advanced stages.