Five-Year Data For Merck's Keytruda Plus Chemo Shows Sustained Survival Benefit In Lung Cancer Patients - Merck & Co (NYSE:MRK)

Merck & Co Inc MRK Keytruda plus chemotherapy demonstrated a survival benefit and durable responses in two five-year exploratory analyses of Phase 3 studies as first-line treatment for metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Data from KEYNOTE-189 in metastatic nonsquamous NSCLC showed that Keytruda plus Alimta (pemetrexed) and platinum chemotherapy had a five-year overall survival (OS) rate of 19.4% versus 11.3% for chemotherapy alone.
The Keytruda-pemetrexed-platinum chemotherapy combination reduced the risk of death by 40%.
At five years, KEYTRUDA plus pemetrexed and cisplatin or carboplatin more than doubled the median OS compared to chemotherapy alone (22.0 months versus 10.6 months).
For patients with metastatic squamous NSCLC, results from KEYNOTE-407 showed the five-year OS rate for Keytruda plus carboplatin-paclitaxel or nab-paclitaxel was 18.4% versus 9.7% for chemotherapy alone.
Keytruda plus carboplatin-paclitaxel or nab-paclitaxel reduced the risk of death by 29% versus chemotherapy alone. The median OS was 17.2 months for the Keytruda plus chemotherapy group versus 11.6 months for the chemotherapy group.
Price Action: MRK shares closed lower by 0.09% at $87.34 on Friday.