Eli Lilly and Company announced that clinical study data from two of its ongoing immuno-oncology clinical collaborations with Merck were presented this weekend at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). Specifically, data were presented from two early-phase trials evaluating ALIMTA® (pemetrexed)-plus-carboplatin and CYRAMZA® (ramucirumab), respectively, in combination with Merck's KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab), in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
"These early data from the combinations of ALIMTA and KEYTRUDA in front-line nonsquamous NSCLC and CYRAMZA and KEYTRUDA in later lines of NSCLC are encouraging," said Richard Gaynor, M.D., senior vice president, product development and medical affairs for Lilly Oncology. "We eagerly await Phase 2 and Phase 3 data with the ALIMTA and KEYTRUDA combinations and more mature data with the CYRAMZA and KEYTRUDA combination, in NSCLC, gastric and bladder cancers, to better understand the role of immuno-oncology combinations in improving patient outcomes in these settings."
Dr. Gaynor added, "These data also reflect the progress that Lilly is making in its oncology R&D strategy to develop cancer treatments across three key areas of disease modification: tumor cell signaling, tumor microenvironment and immuno-oncology. This approach allows for testing of combinations of internally derived agents to address tumor heterogeneity and drug resistance."
"We are pleased that these combination regimens are showing response rates in hard-to-treat tumor types across a range of treatment settings," said Eric Rubin, M.D., vice president and therapeutic area head, oncology early-stage development, Merck Research Laboratories. "We believe combination regimens will play a key role in expanding the benefit of immuno-oncology to more patients and look forward to working with Lilly to further explore these important combinations."
