(Reuters) -Merck and Eisai said on Friday a combination of their cancer therapies failed to extend the lives of patients with a type of esophageal cancer in a late-stage trial.
The trial was studying Merck’s blockbuster immunotherapy Keytruda and Eisai’s Lenvima, in combination with chemotherapy, as a first-line treatment for patients with a type of gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma.
The pairing had previously failed in trials studying it for other types of lung cancer, head and neck and skin cancer as well.
The combination is approved in the U.S., the EU, Japan and other countries for the treatment of a type of kidney cancer, known as advanced renal cell carcinoma, and certain types of advanced endometrial carcinoma — a type of uterine cancer.
(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
Comments