Keytruda hits the right notes in ovarian cancer

Merck & Co’s Keytruda might soon have a new use in a setting featuring no other anti-PD-(L)1 drugs: platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. On Thursday the company toplined a win in the pivotal Keynote-B96 trial, testing Keytruda plus chemo with or without Avastin, versus chemo with or without Avastin. Without disclosing data, Merck said interim analysis showed a hit on its primary PFS endpoint in all comers, and also significantly improved overall survival in PD-L1 expressers. The trial continues, with OS in the full study population to be evaluated at a future analysis. Previously, Keytruda plus the PARP inhibitor Lynparza didn’t improve OS; however, this was in a different setting, first-line BRCA-non mutant ovarian cancer. Lynparza, which Merck markets alongside AstraZeneca, is already approved in ovarian cancer, but only for BRCAm disease. Merck’s partnered ADCs could also play a future role, with the Kelun-originated TROP2-targeting sacituzumab tirumotecan recently going into phase 3 – but in the platinum-sensitive setting. In platinum-resistant patients Merck has hedged its bets, with the Daiichi-partnered CDH6-targeting raludotatug deruxtecan in phase 2/3. A Keytruda approval in platinum-resistant disease could be bad news for the likes of Genmab and BioNTech, which recently reported early data with rinatabart sesutecan and BNT327 plus BNT325 respectively.

Notable Merck & Co pivotal ovarian cancer efforts

Source: OncologyPipeline.