(Reuters) – Merck & Co and partner Eisai said on Friday they will shut down a late-stage study testing an experimental combination therapy for a type of head and neck cancer after an interim analysis showed it failed to prolong lives of patients.
The therapy, Merck’s Keytruda in combination with Eisai’s Lenvima, failed to achieve statistical significance in one of the three main goals of the study, the companies said.
The combination therapy is approved in the United States for the treatment of a type of kidney cancer and certain types of cancers in the lining of the uterus.
(Reporting by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
