(Reuters) -Merck and Eisai’s experimental combination treatment helped extend the time certain patients with advanced kidney cell cancer lived without their disease progressing, according to interim data from a late-stage study.
The combination of Merck’s Welireg and Eisai’s Lenvima, however, failed to show statistical significance in extending overall survival, compared to Exelixis’ approved treatment Cabometyx, the drugmakers said on Tuesday. Overall survival, which measures the length of time patients live after diagnosis or start of treatment, is a key indicator of how well a treatment works.
The combination, which met one main goal and failed another, also helped a higher proportion of patients achieve a substantial reduction or complete disappearance of tumors compared to those treated with Cabometyx, the companies said.
Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common type of kidney cancer, typically affecting men between the ages of 60 and 70, according to government data.
The trial enrolled about 708 patients whose cancer had progressed following immunotherapy. Participants were randomly chosen to receive either the Welireg-Lenvima combination or Cabometyx.
Merck and Eisai plan to present the data to global regulatory authorities and will continue to evaluate overall survival in a subsequent analysis.
The safety profile of the combination was consistent with previous studies, the companies said.
Separately, Merck said certain kidney cancer patients who received a combination of Welireg and its blockbuster immunotherapy Keytruda lived longer without any symptoms of the disease after treatment, compared to those on Keytruda and placebo.
That late-stage trial involved 1,841 patients with clear cell RCC whose kidney or a part of it was surgically removed.
(Reporting by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Shinjini Ganguli)
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