Merck: Keytruda shows survival benefit in lung cancer

(CercleFinance.com) - Shares of US drugmaker Merck are jumping 3% in morning trading on Wall Street this Monday after the company announced positive results in a Phase 3 trial evaluating Keytruda as monotherapy for the first-line treatment of locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).


An interim analysis conducted by an independent data monitoring committee demonstrated that treatment with Merck's anti-PD-1 therapy resulted in significantly longer overall survival than chemotherapy alone.

The trial, which has enrolled 1,274 patients, will continue to evaluate progression-free survival, which is a secondary endpoint.

The Merck stock is currently up 3.2%. The shares are down 2.6% year-to-date, underperforming the Dow Jones index, which has fallen by 2.1% so far this year.

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