Lilly and Merck Sharp and Dohme to expand immuno-oncology alliance

Lilly has announced an expansion of its existing immuno-oncology collaboration with Merck Sharp and Dohme.

The new addition to the alliance will see the companies carry out a study of a drug regimen combining Lilly's Lartruvo with Merck's Keytruda in patients with previously-treated advanced or metastatic soft tissue sarcoma.

Lilly will act as the sponsor of the phase I study, with enrollment expected to begin in mid-2017.

Lartruvo was recently approved as a treatment of soft tissue sarcoma by the European Medicines Agency and the US Food and Drug Administration, and has shown considerable benefits for the treatment of this disease in recent clinical trials.

Dr Sue Mahony, senior vice-president and president of Lilly Oncology, said: "We look forward to further expanding our collaboration with Merck to include this combination study focused on advanced soft tissue sarcoma, a rare and difficult-to-treat disease with limited treatment options."

Lilly and Merck are also working together to study new immuno-oncology approaches to treating diseases such as nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer, gastric cancer and bladder cancer.

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