Merck & Co. Inc.'s PD-1 inhibitor Keytruda (pembrolizumab) as a monotherapy is likely to get a more modest slice of the first-line lung cancer pie than some hoped for, following the release of detailed data from the first-line KEYNOTE-042 study on June 3 at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting.
Merck's Keytruda Monotherapy May Get Stuck With Small Role In First-line Lung Cancer
As results for KEYNOTE-042 are reported at ASCO, Merck's Roy Baynes says Keytruda plus chemotherapy is the standard of care in first-line non-small cell lung cancer, but Keytruda monotherapy is an option for those who don't tolerate chemo well and/or don't have very active disease.
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