Merck Sharp and Dohme’s Keytruda receives new EU lung cancer approval

Merck Sharp and Dohme has announced that its cancer drug Keytruda has received a new approval from the European Commission.

The anti-PD-1 therapy has been ratified for the first-line treatment of metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in adults whose tumours have high PD-L1 expression, with no EGFR or ALK positive tumour mutations.

This approval was based on phase III clinical trial data that demonstrated superior overall and progression-free survival rates associated with Keytruda compared to chemotherapy, which is the current standard of care.

Dr Roy Baynes, senior vice-president, head of clinical development and chief medical officer at Merck Research Laboratories, said: "We are committed to ensuring that patients in Europe – who are in need of new treatment options – are able to quickly gain access to Keytruda."

This comes after the drug was approved in Europe in August 2016 for previously-treated patients with locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC whose tumours express PD-L1 and who have received at least one prior chemotherapy regimen.

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