Merck Expands Cancer Treatments with Keytruda-ADC Combination

Pharmaceutical giant Merck is expanding its portfolio of cancer treatments by pairing its antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) with immunotherapy drug Keytruda across various women's cancers. This move comes on the heels of increased interest in ADCs, which have shown promising results in recent trials.

The company has invested heavily in ADCs, which combine a tumor-targeting antibody with a potent drug payload that mainly targets cancerous cells while minimizing harm to healthy tissue. Merck's Vice President of Global Clinical Development, Dr. Shweta Jain, stated the goal: 'to essentially see how you could replace chemotherapy, how you could partner with Keytruda to ultimately make the regimens even more efficacious and continue to improve the tolerability profile.'

The company is currently testing its leading investigational ADC drug, sacituzumab tirumotecan (Sac-TMT), in combination with Keytruda across breast cancer and several gynecologic cancers. Sac-TMT targets a protein involved in cell growth called Trop2 and has shown significant improvements in overall and progression-free survival in patients with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer.