Merck Stock (NYSE:MRK)
In a phase 3 experiment, patients with advanced or unresectable biliary tract carcinoma (BTC) were given Merck’s (NYSE:MRK) Keytruda in combination with conventional chemotherapy treatment. The trial successfully met the primary objective of overall survival (OS).
The research project was known as KEYNOTE-966. It compared the effectiveness of Keytruda in combination with the standard-of-care chemotherapy (gemcitabine and cisplatin) to the effectiveness of a placebo in combination with gemcitabine and cisplatin as the first-line treatment for patients with advanced and unresectable BTC.
According to the company’s investigation findings, the combination of chemotherapy and Keytruda demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically relevant increase in overall survival compared to chemotherapy treatment alone.
The business also said that the safety profile of Keytruda (pembrolizumab) was comparable to that seen in earlier trials.
According to Eliav Barr, senior vice president, director of global clinical development, and chief medical officer at Merck Research Laboratories, “We are extremely pleased by these overall survival data that highlight the potential benefit of KEYTRUDA in addition to chemotherapy for biliary cancer patients who are urgently in need of additional treatment choices.”
The clinical study had 1,069 participants.
Merck intends to report the findings to the appropriate regulatory agencies and discuss them at an upcoming medical conference.
Separately, Merck said that it would be suspending a phase 3 study of a Keytruda combination therapy to treat a kind of prostate cancer since the medication did not increase survival rates. The experiment was given the name KEYNOTE-991.
The price of Merck stock rose by 0.68 percent to $109.26.
Featured Image: Megapixl © Michaelvi
Author Shariq Khan 
