LONDON: Merck said on Monday it had discontinued an experimental combination treatment testing a new type of immunotherapy In patients with severe form skin cancer Side effects resulted in high discontinuations.
This is the latest blow to experimental medicine, vibostolimabAnd a related promising new class of immunotherapy is called anti-TIGIT.
Merck was also testing vibostolimab keytrudaIts best-selling cancer drug is in late-stage studies in patients with resected high-risk melanoma.
An analysis showed that the trial would not achieve the main goal of a statistically significant improvement in recurrence-free survival because many patients discontinued the combination treatment compared with Keytruda alone due to more side effects, Merck said.
The company will recommend offering Keytruda monotherapy to patients receiving combination treatment.
Vibostolimab works by selectively binding to itself TigitA receptor on immune cells, to activate the immune system against cancer cells.
Merck said it still has widespread Clinical Development Program Evaluation of the vibostolimab-Keytruda combination.
Combination treatment had previously failed to slow disease progression lung cancer Patients in a late-stage study last year.
Data from another trial in March last year also showed that it was less effective than a generic drug called docetaxel in some patients with non-small cell lung cancer.
gilead scienceRoche and GSK are among a half-dozen drugmakers seeking to gain share in the lucrative anti-TIGIT cancer drug market, but the field has seen several failures.
Gilead and its partner Arcus Biosciences in January halted late-stage trials of its anti-TIGIT candidate domavanlimab in a type of lung cancer. Gilead has announced a $320 million investment in its biotech partner as it refocuses its anti-TIGIT effort.
(Reporting by Mariam Sunny and Leroy Leo in Bengaluru; Editing by Taseem Zahid and Sriraj Kalluvila)
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