Merck’s Keytruda shrinks lung cancer tumors, FDA approval sought

Merck & Co Inc’s Keytruda, approved for treating melanoma, was shown in a trial to shrink tumors in nearly half of advanced lung cancer patients with high levels of a protein used by tumors to evade the body’s own disease-fighting cells. The company said it has filed for U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of the drug as a treatment for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose disease has worsened despite previous treatment. Keytruda, also known as pembrolizumab, belongs to a new class of drugs designed to help the immune system fend off cancer by blocking a protein known as Programmed Death receptor (PD-1), or a related target known as PD-L1. Merck said its FDA lung cancer filing is for patients with both squamous and non-squamous NSCLC.
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