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Merck Is Finding PD-L1 Testing Is Helping Keytruda

06 May 2016

• By Joseph Haas

Merck & Co. Inc. is heartened by market data showing about 70% of lung cancer patients who test positive for the PD-L1 biomarker are placed on Keytruda therapy, which could turn into an advantage as the PD-1 inhibitors move into the first-line setting.

Keytruda's lung cancer approval came with a requirement for PD-L1 expression testing, which was a hurdle that Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s Opdivo (nivolumab) didn't have.

"We're already seeing about 30% of patients with lung [cancer] being tested, and about 70% of those are in first-line,"...