Approval Marks 14th Indication for KEYTRUDA
November 09, 2018 04:21 PM Eastern Standard Time
KENILWORTH, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Merck (NYSE:MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved KEYTRUDA, Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy, for the treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who have been previously treated with sorafenib. This indication is approved under accelerated approval based on tumor response rate and durability of response. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in the confirmatory trials.
“Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common type of liver cancer in adults, and while we have seen recent therapeutic advancements, there are still limited treatment options for advanced recurrent disease,” said Dr. Andrew X. Zhu, lead investigator and director of liver cancer research at Massachusetts General Hospital and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. “Today’s approval of KEYTRUDA is important, as it provides a new treatment option for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma who have been previously treated with sorafenib.”
Immune-mediated adverse reactions, which may be severe or fatal, can occur with KEYTRUDA, including pneumonitis, colitis, hepatitis, endocrinopathies, nephritis, severe skin reactions, solid organ transplant rejection, and complications of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Based on the severity of the adverse reaction, KEYTRUDA should be withheld or discontinued and corticosteroids administered if appropriate. KEYTRUDA can also cause severe or life-threatening infusion-related reactions. Based on its mechanism of action, KEYTRUDA can cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman. For more information, see “Selected Important Safety Information” below.
“The approval of KEYTRUDA for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma marks the second FDA approval for hepatocellular carcinoma in Merck’s oncology portfolio this year, underscoring our commitment to help bring forward new treatment options for cancers that have historically been very challenging to treat,” said Dr. Scot Ebbinghaus, vice president, clinical research, Merck Research Laboratories. “We look forward to continuing to advance research for hepatocellular carcinoma across our portfolio with the goal to help even more patients affected by this type of cancer.”
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