Merck’s KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab) Demonstrated Long-Term Survival Benefit Based on Four and Five Years of Follow-Up from Two Pivotal Studies in Advanced Melanoma

Merck (NYSE:MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today announced long-term efficacy data from the Phase 3 KEYNOTE-006 study and the melanoma cohort of the Phase 1b KEYNOTE-001 study investigating KEYTRUDA, Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy, in patients with advanced melanoma.

As quoted in the press release:

“Looking across the findings for both KEYNOTE-006 and KEYNOTE-001 we are seeing further validation that KEYTRUDA is significantly extending the survival of first-line metastatic melanoma patients, regardless of tumor BRAF-mutation status,” said Scot Ebbinghaus, M.D., vice president, clinical research, Merck Research Laboratories. “In KEYNOTE-006, we are also seeing durable efficacy benefits for patients who complete two years of KEYTRUDA treatment. We are pleased to share data that further reinforce KEYTRUDA monotherapy as a standard of care in advanced melanoma patients and deliver on our goal of improving and extending the lives of melanoma patients.”

“Pembrolizumab had already established superior survival outcomes versus ipilimumab in advanced melanoma patients, and this is further reinforced with four years of data in KEYNOTE-006,” said Professor Georgina V. Long, conjoint medical director of Melanoma Institute Australia (MIA), and chair of Melanoma Medical Oncology and Translational Research at MIA and Royal North Shore Hospital, The University of Sydney. “Importantly, we’re now seeing ongoing efficacy for patients who complete the protocol-specified two years of pembrolizumab treatment, as well as additional anti-tumor activity for the patients who progress after a first course of treatment and complete a second course of treatment.”

Click here to read the full press release.