1. Scrip
  2. >>Business

Merck Is Finding PD-L1 Testing Is Helping Keytruda

 
• 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," Adam Schechter, president of global health, told the firm’s May...

Read the full article – start your free trial today!

Join thousands of industry professionals who rely on Scrip for daily insights

  • Start your 7-day free trial
  • Explore trusted news, analysis, and insights
  • Access comprehensive global coverage
  • Enjoy instant access – no credit card required
Start Free Trial

Already a subscriber?

More from Business

BREAKING NEWS: Sanofi Bets $9.5bn To Bag Blueprint

 
• By Kevin Grogan

Buy boosts the French major's immunology pipeline.

Quick Listen: Scrip’s Five Must-Know Things

 
• By Ian Haydock

In this week's episode: a preview of major ASCO readouts; Roivant stays patient in deals; Lilly diversifies pain pipeline with SiteOne acquisition; Nucala gets US COPD nod; and women in Indian pharma.

Summit’s Ivonescimab Shows Significance On PFS, But Not Overall Survival

 
• By Joseph Haas

In a study intended to show similar benefit in western patients, PD-1/VEGF-targeting ivonescimab met a progression-free survival endpoint, but missed on OS.

Sanofi Bid For Second COPD Approval Hurt By Mixed Itepekimab Data

 
• By Kevin Grogan

One Phase III trial hits but a second study misses by a mile.

More from Scrip

Quick Listen: Scrip’s Five Must-Know Things

 
• By Ian Haydock

In this week's episode: a preview of major ASCO readouts; Roivant stays patient in deals; Lilly diversifies pain pipeline with SiteOne acquisition; Nucala gets US COPD nod; and women in Indian pharma.

ASCO: Rusfertide Inches Toward FDA Filing With Positive 32-Week Data

 
• By Alaric DeArment

Takeda/Protagonist are awaiting 52-week data to confirm the results from the VERIFY trial of the drug in polycythemia vera.

ASCO: Trodelvy First-Line TNBC Data Seen As Potentially Practice-Changing

 
• By Alaric DeArment

Gilead chief medical officer Dietmar Berger said in an interview that the company plans to quickly take the results to regulators and foresees broad first-line use of the drug.