FDA accepts supplemental biologics licence application (sBLA) for Keytruda (pembrolizumab) as first line treatment for NSCLC.- Merck Inc.

Merck announced that the FDA has accepted for Priority Review the supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for Keytruda (pembrolizumab), the company�s anti-PD-1 therapy, for the first-line treatment of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumours express PD-L1, with a PDUFA, or target action, date of 24 December, 2016.

Additionally, the FDA granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation for this indication. Merck has also submitted a Marketing Authorization Application to the European Medicines Agency for this indication.

The submissions were based on data from the pivotal phase III KEYNOTE-024 study, which showed that Keytruda monotherapy resulted in superior progression-free survival (PFS) as well as overall survival (OS) compared with standard chemotherapy in patients with advanced NSCLC whose tumours expressed high levels of PD-L1 (tumour proportion score of 50 percent or more). Based on the results, the trial was stopped early to give patients still on chemotherapy the opportunity to receive Keytruda. Merck filed for approval of Keytruda in the first-line setting at a dose of 200 mg every three weeks, the dose studied in KEYNOTE-024.