Merck: KEYTRUDA Plus LENVIMA Is Available In Canada To Treat Advanced Or Metastatic Kidney Cancer

(RTTNews) - Drug major Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) and Eisai announced Wednesday that KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab) Plus LENVIMA (lenvatinib) is available in Canada for the first-line treatment of adult patients with advanced or metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma or RCC.

KEYTRUDA is an anti-PD-1 therapy that works by helping increase the ability of the body's immune system to help detect and fight tumour cells. LENVIMA, discovered and developed by Eisai, is an orally available multiple receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor.

The companies noted that KEYTRUDA in combination with LENVIMA is reimbursed under the Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec, and Saskatchewan drug plans with respective clinical criteria and conditions for adult patients with advanced or metastatic RCC, with no prior systemic therapy for metastatic RCC.

The combination therapy was approved by Health Canada in 2022, based on the Phase 3 CLEAR/KEYNOTE-581 trial results, which demonstrated statistically significant improvements in progression-free survival, overall survival, and objective response rate versus sunitinib.

The strategic collaboration between Merck and Eisai includes the co-development and co-commercialization of LENVIMA in Canada.

Marwan Akar, President and Managing Director of Merck Canada, said, "We commend the decision to make KEYTRUDA plus LENVIMA accessible to Canadians facing late-stage kidney cancer. This marks an important milestone for the oncology community and reminds us of the tireless pursuit of our research teams in aims to help push barriers and improve health outcomes. By joining forces with Eisai, we hope to continue accelerating discoveries and developments in the oncology landscape for Canadians."

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