Merck reported that it presented data at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESCO) Congress in Paris on 11 September, including:
- in patients with metastatic nonsquamous NSCLC, data from KEYNOTE-189 demonstrating KEYTRUDA plus pemetrexed (ALIMTA®) and platinum chemotherapy (cisplatin or carboplatin) had a five-year overall survival (OS) rate of 19.4% versus 11.3% for chemotherapy alone; and
- in patients with metastatic squamous NSCLC, results from KEYNOTE-407 showing the five-year OS rate for KEYTRUDA plus carboplatin-paclitaxel or nab-paclitaxel was 18.4% versus 9.7% for chemotherapy alone.
Separately, Eisai reported that would be presenting data on several trials on the combination of lenvatinib and pembrolizumab at the conference, including a late-breaking oral presentation of detailed results from the LEAP (Lenvatinib And Pembrolizumab) clinical program including the final analysis of the Phase 3 LEAP-002 trial as a first-line treatment for patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma, as well as two mini-oral presentations with updated efficacy and safety data from the pivotal Phase 3 CLEAR (Study 307)/KEYNOTE-581 trial evaluating the combination in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma, and Phase 3 Study 309/KEYNOTE-775 trial evaluating the combination in patients with advanced endometrial carcinoma.