United States-based Merck's Keytruda (pembrolizumab) in combination with pemetrexed (Alimta) plus platinum chemotherapy has improved overall survival and progression-free survival of a certain type of lung cancer patients in a phase three trial, it was reported yesterday.

Both overall survival and progression-free survival were defined to be the dual primary endpoints of the pivotal late-stage trial named KEYNOTE-189.

The trial evaluated the combination of Keytruda, Lilly's pemetrexed and platinum chemotherapy made up of cisplatin or carboplatin as a first-line treatment of patients with metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The Keytruda regimen was assessed in comparison to pemetrexed and cisplatin or carboplatin alone in 614 NSCLC patients, regardless of PD-L1 expression. According to Merck, the safety profile of Keytruda in the combination was on par with previous observations.