Posted by Michael Wonder on 27 Jan 2021
European Commission approves Keytruda (pembrolizumab) as first-line treatment in adult patients with metastatic microsatellite instability-high or mismatch repair deficient colorectal cancer
26 January 2021 - Keytruda is first checkpoint inhibitor approved in Europe to treat MSI-H or dMMR colorectal cancer.
Merck announced today that the European Commission has approved Keytruda, Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy, as a monotherapy for the first-line treatment of adult patients with metastatic microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) colorectal cancer.
This approval is based on results from the pivotal Phase 3 KEYNOTE-177 trial, in which Keytruda monotherapy significantly reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 40% (HR=0.60 [95% CI, 0.45-0.80]; p=0.0002) compared with chemotherapy (investigator’s choice: mFOLFOX6 [oxaliplatin, leucovorin and fluorouracil (FU)] with or without bevacizumab or cetuximab; or FOLFIRI [irinotecan, leucovorin and FU] with or without bevacizumab or cetuximab).
