Merck, Eisai discontinue late-stage study for liver cancer therapy

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(Reuters) -Merck and Japan’s Eisai said on Wednesday they will shut down a late-stage study testing an experimental combination therapy to treat a type of liver cancer, after interim results showed the treatment was unlikely to improve overall survival.

The study tested Merck’s blockbuster drug Keytruda and Eisai’s Lenvima, along with a liver cancer procedure called transarterial chemoembolization (TACE), in patients with unresectable, non-metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma, which is the most common type of liver cancer.

This type of cancer is often diagnosed at an intermediate stage, where curative treatments such as resection, ablation or transplant are not viable. However, some patients may still be able to get treatments like TACE, which target the liver directly.

In an interim analysis, patients treated with the combination lived longer without their cancer getting worse, meeting one of the trial’s goals for progression-free survival compared to TACE.

But the interim data showed the combination was unlikely to meet the overall survival goal, prompting the companies to end the trial early.

The combination therapy had previously failed in trials studying it for other types of cancers such as lung, esophageal cancer and skin, among others.

The results do not affect the current approved indications or other ongoing trials.

The Keytruda-Lenvima combination therapy is approved in the U.S., the European Union, Japan and other countries for the treatment of a type of kidney cancer, and a type of uterine cancer.

(Reporting by Siddhi Mahatole in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)