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Merck & Co.’s Keytruda Stakes Another Adjuvant Flag, In RCC

 
• By Joseph Haas

Adjuvant renal cell carcinoma is a potentially lucrative indication for any checkpoint inhibitor; Merck & Co. flagship Keytruda is the first to demonstrate benefit in a Phase III study, although rivals are in pursuit.

Kidney cancer
Merck & Co. hopes to add adjuvant RCC to Keytruda's label

Merck & Co., Inc. unveiled Phase III data on 8 April showing Keytruda yielded a disease-free survival (DFS) benefit in post-surgical kidney cancer patients. The results from the KEYNOTE-564 study are the first to show benefit with a PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitor in adjuvant renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and could set up the drug to add its second indication in the lucrative early-line setting.

While not revealing any numerical data, Merck & Co. reported that Keytruda (pembrolizumab) compared to placebo met the primary endpoint of DFS in RCC patients following either nephrectomy (removal of...

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