Keytruda’s frontline urothelial carcinoma miss creates opportunity for competitors in a tricky indication

Keytruda’s Phase III miss in first-line urothelial cancer opens the door to a spate of competitors hoping to beat Merck’s market-leading anti-PD-1 mAb to the indication.

The combination of Keytruda pembrolizumab from Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK) plus chemotherapy missed the dual primary endpoints of overall survival and progression free survival as first-line treatment for advanced or metastatic urothelial cancers in the Phase III KEYNOTE-361 study. The trial, which enrolled 1,010 patients, was also evaluating Keytruda monotherapy, but the study arm did not complete testing...