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Melanoma Trial Halted Early; Keytruda Betters Yervoy
Currently, Keytruda is approved for patients with advanced melanoma previously treated with Yervoy and, in some patients, another type of drug as well. That second- and third-line status limits the number of patients eligible for the drug.
Advantage Merck in the melanoma immunotherapy race. The US-based company says its PD-1 drug Keytruda met its goals in a head-to-head study with Bristol-Myers Squibb's Yervoy (ipilimumab), dealing a blow to that company's growing immunotherapy franchise.
Even better, Keytruda bested Yervoy in previously untreated patients with advanced melanoma, a result that could lead to a bigger market for the Merck med.
Keytruda hit its primary endpoints not only for stalling cancer progression, but for extending patients' lives—so-called overall survival, a key measure for regulators, doctors and payers. Merck stopped the study, called KEYNOTE-006, after trial monitors decided the results were strong enough to prompt a halt.
Read the complete article on FiercePharma: http://bit.ly/1HGL4Ox
Oncology Onward: A Conversation With Penn Medicine's Dr Justin Bekelman
December 19th 2023Justin Bekelman, MD, director of the Penn Center for Cancer Care Innovation, sat with our hosts Emeline Aviki, MD, MBA, and Stephen Schleicher, MD, MBA, for our final episode of 2023 to discuss the importance of collaboration between academic medicine and community oncology and testing innovative cancer care delivery in these settings.
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