Merck’s Drug Combination Fails Colorectal Cancer Trial

(Reuters) – Merck announced on Wednesday that its experimental drug combination with the blockbuster therapy Keytruda did not succeed in a late-stage clinical trial. The trial focused on previously treated patients with a specific type of colorectal cancer.

This represents the latest setback in a series of trials examining Keytruda combinations, as Merck aims to broaden its applications to cancers not yet treated by immunotherapies, especially in light of impending patent expirations by the end of the decade.

Recently, Merck has also halted trials that tested Keytruda combinations in skin or lung cancer.

In the colorectal cancer trial, which included 441 participants, those receiving the experimental drug favezelimab alongside Keytruda showed no significant improvement in overall survival when compared to patients on standard treatment.

Colorectal cancer arises in the colon or rectum and impacts over 150,000 individuals in the United States each year, as per the National Institutes of Health.

Favezelimab functions by inhibiting a protein known as LAG-3 from interacting with certain molecules on tumor cells, thereby stimulating the body’s immune response to potentially decrease tumor proliferation.

Additionally, the favezelimab-Keytruda combination is under examination for treating various blood disorders and solid tumors.