Immaterial Overall To Merck — But In A Combo Trial With AstraZeneca, In Certain Lung Cancers — Keytruda Missed Primary Endpoint In KEYLYNK-006.

As I’ve said before, this is just one of dozens of combo-trials now underway.

Yes, it is disappointing, but none of the financial modeling on Wall Street had this as a “highly likely” potential added revenue stream, in the near term. So Merck’s stocck price should be largely unmoved by this news.

…Merck today announced that the Phase 3 KEYLYNK-006 trial evaluating KEYTRUDA, Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy, in combination with maintenance LYNPARZA, a PARP inhibitor, did not meet its dual primary endpoints of overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) for the first-line treatment of certain patients with metastatic nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)….

In general, no responsible analyst builds added revenue into a model for indications that have not yet won FDA approval. And on this particular combo-indication, with AstraZeneca, Merck hadn’t even yet filed with FDA. Keytruda remains approved for over 20 types of oncological indications. Onward.

नमस्ते