- Center on Health Equity & Access
- Clinical
- Health Care Cost
- Health Care Delivery
- Insurance
- Policy
- Technology
- Value-Based Care
Merck to Present Data on The First FDA-Approved PD-1 Inhibitor: Pembrolizumab
As the immuno-oncology landscape intensifies, a second player in the game, Merck's PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda), was recently approved for the treatment of advanced, unresectable melanoma.
As the immuno-oncology landscape intensifies, a second player in the game, Merck’s PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda), was recently approved for the treatment of advanced, unresectable melanoma, in patients who are resistant to ipilimumab and to a BRAF inhibitor (if they harbor a BRAFV600 mutation). A press release by Merck on November 6, 2014, announced that results of studies evaluating pembrolizumab against chemotherapy, in advanced melanoma, will be presented at the Society for Melanoma Research, 2014 International Congress in Zurich, Switzerland, on November 16, 2014.
The late breaker oral session, “A Randomized Controlled Comparison of Pembrolizumab (MK-3475) and Chemotherapy in Patients with Ipilimumab-Refractory Melanoma,” will be presented by Dr Antoni Ribas, associate professor at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California at Los Angeles.
“Our focus on evaluating Keytruda as a monotherapy is enabling Merck to rapidly advance the clinical development of our anti-PD-1 therapy,” said Dr Roy Baynes, senior vice president, Global Clinical Development, Merck Research Laboratories, in the press release. “We look forward to the first comparative data in advanced melanoma being presented. We continue to expand our immuno-oncology clinical program with Keytruda both as monotherapy and in combination with other agents.”
Merck is currently testing the antibody in a variety of cancers, including advanced triple-negative breast cancer, classic Hodgkin Lymphoma, and bladder cancer.
The Importance of Examining and Preventing Atrial Fibrillation
August 29th 2023At this year’s American Society for Preventive Cardiology Congress on CVD Prevention, Emelia J. Benjamin, MD, ScM, delivered the Honorary Fellow Award Lecture, “The Imperative to Focus on the Prevention of Atrial Fibrillation,” as the recipient of this year’s Honorary Fellow of the American Society for Preventive Cardiology award.
Listen
Key Indicators of Myasthenia Gravis Disease Progression Reduced With Efgartigimod
April 18th 2025Research presented at the recent annual meeting of the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy highlights outcomes among patients who have anti-acetylcholine receptor antibody-positive myasthenia gravis that include reduced exacerbations and need for immunoglobulin.
Read More
Promoting Equity in Public Health: Policy, Investment, and Community Engagement Solutions
June 28th 2022On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with Georges C. Benjamin, MD, executive director of the American Public Health Association, on the core takeaways of his keynote session at AHIP 2022 on public health policy and other solutions to promote equitable health and well-being.
Listen
Bias Reduction, Better Access Key to COVID-19 Equity Gains
April 14th 2025Interventions that target enhancing health care equity among communities disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic can be improved by including comprehensive needs assessments at the patient, provider, and health system levels.
Read More
Orca-T showed lower rates of graft-vs-host disease or infection compared with allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) or acute leukemias in the Precision-T trial, Caspian Oliai, MD, MS, UCLA Bone Marrow Transplantation Stem Cell Processing Center, said.
Read More
