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Gilead (NASDAQ:GILD) announced Sunday that its antibody-drug conjugate Trodelvy and Merck’s (NYSE:MRK) anti-PD-1 immunotherapy Keytruda cut tumor size in previously untreated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the commonest form of lung cancer.
Ahead of a presentation at the World Conference on Lung Cancer, the Foster City, California-based biotech said that the early readout indicated the potential of Trodelvy in lung cancer. The intravenously delivered injection is approved in the U.S. for certain breast and bladder cancer types.
Citing data from more than 60 patients who received Trodelvy and Keytruda with or without chemotherapy across two groups, Gilead (GILD) said that the drug combo led to a 56% objective response rate (ORR) and an 82% disease control rate (DCR).
However, 18% of patients discontinued the trial due to adverse events, and there was one treatment-related death.
The global trial known as EVOKE-02 enrolled patients with advanced or metastatic NSCLC without actionable genomic alterations. The preliminary analysis included patients who were categorized based on the level of tumor expression.
Bill Grossman, Gilead’s (GILD) head of oncology, said that the readout validated the company’s approach in the ongoing Phase 3 EVOKE-03 trial, which tests Trodelvy with Keytruda vs. Keytruda alone as a first-line option in PD-L1-high metastatic NSCLC.
