Merck releases updated KEYNOTE-028 trial data

Merck recently released updated data from its Phase 1b KEYNOTE-028 clinical trial, which involved KEYTRUDA.
Some patients in the trial, all of whom have received previous treatments for their advanced small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and malignant pleural mesothelioma, demonstrated clinical activity and durable responses to KEYTRUDA.
The recently released data was presented at the 17th World Conference on Lung Cancer, which is hosted by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, as part of several oral presentations.
“As data from our initial trials exploring KEYTRUDA mature, we are encouraged to see durable clinical activity in difficult-to-treat cancers such as small cell lung cancer and malignant pleural mesothelioma, where new treatments are clearly needed,” Merck Research Laboratories Senior Vice President and Therapeutic Head of Oncology Late-stage Development Dr. Roger Dansey said. “With our extensive immuno-oncology research program, we are developing KEYTRUDA across a range of thoracic malignancies, and we have additional studies underway in these two cancer types.”
KEYNOTE-028 was designed to assess the KEYTRUDA monotherapy’s safety, patient tolerability and anti-tumor activity. The study involves 450 patients who have PD-L1 positive tumors in the form of 20 different kinds of cancer.