Pharmaceutical Executive Editorial Staff Adjuvant treatment with Moderna’s mRNA-4157 (V940) in combination with Merck’s Keytruda lowered the risk of recurrence or death by 49% compared with Keytruda monotherapy. Findings from the KEYNOTE-942/mRNA-4157-P201 clinical trial show that Moderna’s investigational individualized neoantigen therapy plus Merck’s Keytruda (pembrolizumab) lowered the risk of death or relapse by nearly half in patients with resected high-risk melanoma (stage III/IV) following complete resection. A planned analysis of the Phase IIb randomized trial found that at a median follow-up of approximately three years, adjuvant treatment with Moderna’s mRNA-4157 (V940) in combination with Keytruda continued to show a clinically meaningful improvement in recurrence-free survival (RFS) by lowering the risk of recurrence or death by 49% compared with Keytruda monotherapy. “As we continue to follow participants in the KEYNOTE-942/mRNA-4157-P201 study, we are excited to see such a robust clinical benefit with mRNA-4157 (V940) as adjuvant treatment in combination with Keytruda ...
Pharmaceutical Executive Editorial Staff Merck’s Biologics License Application for V116, a novel 21-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine has been given a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) date of June 17, 2024. The FDA has granted priority review to Merck’s Biologics License Application (BLA) for V116, a novel 21-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine developed as a single dose for the prevention of invasive pneumococcal disease and pneumococcal pneumonia in adults. The BLA has been given a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) date of June 17, 2024. “Invasive pneumococcal disease poses a greater risk to older adults or those with weakened immune systems, in part due to disease-causing serotypes not covered by currently licensed pneumococcal conjugate vaccines,” Eliav Barr, MD, senior vice president, head of global clinical development and chief medical officer, Merck Research Laboratories, said in a press release. “If approved, V116 would be the first pneumococcal conjugate vaccine specifically designed ...
Since Merck secured approval for kidney cancer pill and blockbuster hopeful Welireg (belzutifan) in August of 2021, sales have grown slowly but surely. With a second FDA nod on Thursday for a much larger patient population, the company can anticipate a more pronounced upswing in revenue from the hypoxia-inducible factor-2 alpha (HIF-2a) inhibitor. The U.S. regulator has given a thumbs up for Welireg to treat relapsed or refractory renal cell carcinoma (RCC) for adult patients who have not responded to a PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitor and who have also been treated with a vascular endothelial growth factor tyrosine kinase inhibitor (VEGF-TK1). Welireg becomes the first drug in its class for patients with advanced RCC and the first novel-class treatment in the indication since 2015, Merck noted. The nod comes on top of its original approval to treat the rare von Hippel-Lindau disease, a hereditary condition that causes tumor growth in ...
Pharmaceutical Executive Editorial Staff Phase III trial to investigate novel individualized neoantigen therapy V940 (mRNA-4157) in combination with Keytruda (pembrolizumab) as an adjuvant treatment for patients with completely resected Stage II, IIIA, or IIIB non-small cell lung cancer. Image credit: Axel Kock | stock.adobe.com Merck and Moderna, Inc., have announced plans to launch the pivotal Phase III INTerpath-002 (NCT06077760) clinical trial of the novel individualized neoantigen therapy V940 (mRNA-4157) in combination with Keytruda (pembrolizumab) as an adjuvant treatment for patients with completely resected Stage II, IIIA, or IIIB non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). V940 is comprised of synthetic mRNA coding for up to 34 neoantigens that are designed and produced based on the unique mutational signature of a patient’s tumor. After administration of the drug, the algorithmically derived and RNA-encoded neoantigen sequences are endogenously translated and undergo natural cellular antigen processing and presentation. “As lung cancer is the leading cause ...
Acceptance based on results from the Phase 3 KEYNOTE-A39 trial, which showed a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in overall survival and progression-free survival versus chemotherapy in these patients RAHWAY, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for priority review a new supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) seeking approval for KEYTRUDA, Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy, in combination with Padcev (enfortumab vedotin-ejfv), an antibody-drug conjugate, for the treatment of adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (la/mUC). This application is being reviewed under the FDA’s Real-Time Oncology Review (RTOR) program, which aims to improve the efficiency of the review process of applications to ensure that treatments are available to patients as early as possible. The FDA has set a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA), or target action, date ...
Merck & Co – known as MSD outside the US and Canada – has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Caraway Therapeutics, with the deal worth up to $610m. The acquisition gives Merck access to the preclinical biopharma’s pipeline of small-molecule therapeutics for genetically defined neurodegenerative and rare diseases. Mutations that impair cellular clearance pathways are associated with multiple neurodegenerative and rare diseases, including neurodegenerative disorders characterised by cognitive dysfunction, according to Caraway. The company focuses on discovering small molecules that activate cellular recycling processes to clear toxic materials and defective cellular components by modulating lysosomal function. George Addona, senior vice president, discovery, preclinical development and translational medicine at Merck Research Laboratories, said: “Caraway’s multidisciplinary approach has yielded important progress in evaluating novel mechanisms of modulation of lysosomal function with potential for the treatment of progressive neurodegenerative diseases. “We look forward to applying our expertise to build upon this ...
MSD has entered a definitive agreement to acquire Caraway Therapeutics in a deal worth up to $610m. MSD will acquire the Massachusetts-based small molecule therapeutics company through one of its subsidiaries. The $610m consideration includes undisclosed upfront and milestone-based payments. MSD plans to expense the upfront payment as part of its Q4 2023 expenses, as per a 21 November press release. MSD has been a Caraway shareholder through its subsidiary, MRL Ventures Fund. As per the agreement, the company will “acquire all outstanding shares of Caraway with earnout milestones associated with the development of certain pipeline candidates”. The transaction has already been approved by Caraway’s board of directors. Caraway has a preclinical pipeline of therapies for neurogenerative diseases, especially Parkinson’s disease. Caraway’s lead preclinical candidate targets the transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily (TRPML1), which is located on lysosomes and regulates their enzymatic activity. As lysosomal dysregulation has been seen ...
By Tristan Manalac Pictured: Merck Research Laboratories building in California The FDA on Thursday approved Merck’s anti-PD-1 blockbuster Keytruda (pembrolizumab) for the first-line treatment of adult patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma. Thursday’s label expansion is Keytruda’s seventh approval in gastrointestinal cancer and its 38th indication overall in the U.S., according to Merck’s announcement. This latest approval covers patients with HER2-negative cancers and authorizes the use of the PD-1 blocker in combination with fluoropyrimidine- and platinum-containing chemotherapy. Previously, Keytruda was indicated for gastric cancer only in patients who had progressed after at least two prior lines of systemic therapy, including fluoropyrimidine- and platinum-containing chemotherapy. Marjorie Green, senior vice president and head of late-stage oncology, global clinical development at Merck Research Laboratories, in a statement called Keytruda’s label expansion an “important milestone” in the care of gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma. Data from the Phase ...
The FDA has signed off on label expansions for two of the world’s most important cancer medicines—Merck’s Keytruda and Pfizer and Astellas’ Xtandi. Keytruda’s expansion is in stomach cancer, allowing its use alongside chemotherapy to treat first-line patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic HER2-negative gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma. Xtandi’s new indication expands its already deep portfolio in the treatment of prostate cancer. It now becomes the only androgen receptor inhibitor approved by the FDA for patients with nonmetastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer (nmCSPC) with biochemical recurrence at high risk for metastasis (high-risk BCR). These patients can be treated with Xtandi with or without GnRH analog therapy. Of men who have had prostate cancer treatment, 20% to 40% will have BCR within 10 years. Of those with high-risk BCR, 90% will develop metastatic disease, with one in three dying. The nod was backed up by the phase 3 EMBARK ...
Merck & Co – known as MSD outside the US and Canada – has announced that the European Medicines Agency’s human medicines committee has recommended its Keytruda (pembrolizumab) in combination with chemotherapy to treat biliary tract cancer (BTC). The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has specifically recommended that the anti-PD-1 therapy be used alongside gemcitabine and cisplatin for the first-line treatment of adults with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic BTC. BTC is a group of rare and highly aggressive cancers in the liver, gallbladder and bile ducts. Approximately 211,000 people are diagnosed with the disease each year globally and about 70% of BTC patients are diagnosed at an advanced stage, at which point the prognosis is poor. The CHMP’s positive opinion was supported by results from the late-stage KEYNOTE-966 trial, in which the Keytruda/chemotherapy combination demonstrated a significant overall survival benefit in these patients versus chemotherapy alone. ...
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