European Commission Approves Keytruda as First-Line Lung Cancer Treatment

The European Commission approved Merck’s Keytruda cancer immunotherapy as a first-line treatment for metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.

The approval was based on Phase III data demonstrating improvements in overall survival and progression-free survival compared to chemotherapy. The study enrolled 305 patients who had not received systemic chemotherapy for their metastatic disease.

Keytruda reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 50 percent compared to chemotherapy. In addition, the product resulted in a 40-percent reduction in the risk of death in 66 patients in the chemotherapy arm who had crossed over in-study to receive the drug once their cancer had progressed.