Merck's Keytruda meets ORR endpoint in first-line squamous NSCLC

Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK) reported that Keytruda pembrolizumab in combination with carboplatin/paclitaxel or Abraxane nab-paclitaxel met the secondary endpoint of improving overall response rate (ORR) vs. carboplatin/paclitaxel or Abraxane alone in the Phase III KEYNOTE-407 trial as first-line treatment of metastatic squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

The double-blind, placebo-controlled trial enrolled 560 patients who received no prior systemic therapy for advanced disease. Merck plans to present additional data from the trial at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago in June...