Health Canada Approves Merck’s KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab)

Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, announced that Health Canada has granted approval for KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab), Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy, as a treatment for adult patients with resectable Stage II, IIIA, or IIIB (T3-4N2) non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) in combination with platinum-containing chemotherapy as neoadjuvant treatment, and then continued as monotherapy as adjuvant treatment after surgery. This approval is based on results from the Phase 3 KEYNOTE-671 trial, which demonstrated statistically significant results for its dual primary endpoints of event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) versus neoadjuvant placebo plus chemotherapy followed by adjuvant placebo alone.