Merck’s Colorectal Cancer Therapy Fails Late-Stage Trial, According to Reuters

Merck announced on Wednesday that a combination of its experimental medication and the well-established therapy Keytruda did not succeed in a late-stage trial involving patients with a type of colorectal cancer who had already received treatment.

This setback is part of a series of trials investigating Keytruda combinations at a time when the company aims to broaden the therapy’s application to cancers that have not yet been treated with immunotherapies, particularly as the patent for Keytruda is set to expire by the end of the decade.

Recently, Merck has also halted trials that explored Keytruda combinations for skin and lung cancers.

In the colorectal cancer trial, which included 441 participants, those who received the experimental drug favezelimab in conjunction with Keytruda did not demonstrate a significant improvement in overall survival compared to patients receiving standard care.

Colorectal cancer, which develops in the colon or rectum, affects more than 150,000 individuals in the United States each year, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Favezelimab functions by inhibiting a protein known as LAG-3 from attaching to certain molecules on tumor cells. This action helps to activate the body’s immune response and may slow tumor growth.

Additionally, the combination of favezelimab and Keytruda is under investigation as a treatment for various blood disorders and solid tumors.