Merck's New Drug MK-2475A Clinical Trial Achieves Significant Success, Breakthrough in Lung Cancer Treatment!

On November 19, Merck announced key Phase 3 positive results from the MK-2475A-D77 clinical trial (NCT05722015). The results of this study indicate that in the field of first-line treatment of non-small cell lung cancer, the combination of subcutaneous K drug injection and chemotherapy does not show disadvantages compared with the combination of intravenous K drug preparation and chemotherapy. Merck said specific data from the study will be presented at a future medical meeting and that it plans to discuss it with global regulators.

Subcutaneous Formulation K (MK-3475A) is a combination formulation containing hyaluronidase alpha developed by Merck and Alteogen in combination with drug K (MK-3475).

In the post-PD -(L)1 inhibitor era, major pharmaceutical companies are actively developing subcutaneous injection dosage forms in order to extend the market life cycle of products. In addition to the MK-3475A-D77 study, Merck also evaluated subcutaneous preparations in the MK-3475A-F84 study in patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, specifically those with high PD-L1 expression (TPS ≥50%). In addition, in the Phase 2 MK-3475A-F65 study, Merck evaluated the efficacy of MK-3475A as a monotherapy for relapsed/refractory classic Hodgkin lymphoma and relapsed/refractory primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma. Merck also conducted a Phase 2 preference study, MK-3475A-F11, to assess patients' preference for subcutaneous versus intravenous formulae.