Finnish pharmaceutical company Orion Corporation (HEL:ORNBV) said on Wednesday that Merck & Co Inc (NYSE:MRK), known as MSD outside the US and Canada, has expanded its clinical development programme for opevesostat (MK-5684) to include women's cancers.

MSD has global exclusive rights to opevesostat, an oral, non-steroidal and selective inhibitor of CYP11A1 that was discovered and developed by Orion.

A new Phase 2 trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of opevesostat in breast, endometrial and ovarian cancers has been registered on ClinicalTrials.gov, though patient recruitment has not yet begun.

In addition to the new study, opevesostat is being evaluated by MSD in multiple ongoing trials, including two Phase 3 studies targeting metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

The expansion into women's cancers marks a significant step in the clinical pipeline of opevesostat, broadening its potential therapeutic applications.