Merck and Eisai today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the combination of KEYTRUDA, Merck’s antiPD-1 therapy, plus LENVIMA, the orally available kinase inhibitor discovered by Eisai, for the treatment of patients with advanced endometrial cancer that is not microsatellite instability high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair deficient (dMMR), who have disease progression following prior systemic therapy and are not candidates for curative surgery or radiation.
This marks the first U.S. approval for the combination of KEYTRUDA plus LENVIMA and the first time an antiPD-1 therapy is approved in combination with a kinase inhibitor for advanced endometrial carcinoma in the U.S. Following submission on June 17, this is an accelerated approval reviewed under the FDA’s Real-Time Oncology Review (RTOR) pilot program, which aims to improve the efficiency of the review process for applications to ensure that treatments are available to patients as early as possible. This approval is based on tumor response rate and durability of response. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in the confirmatory trial. According to the FDA, this review was conducted under Project Orbis, an initiative of the FDA Oncology Center of Excellence. Project Orbis provides a framework for concurrent submission and review of oncology drugs among its international partners.
Under this project, the FDA, the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and Health Canada collaboratively reviewed applications for two oncology drugs, allowing for simultaneous decisions in all three countries. “When diagnosed early, endometrial carcinoma can have a good prognosis; however, for women whose cancer has progressed following prior systemic therapy, there are few FDA approved treatment options,” said Dr. Vicky Makker, medical oncologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. “Based on objective response rate and the duration of response, this approval of the KEYTRUDA plus LENVIMA combination will help address a significant unmet medical need for patients with advanced endometrial carcinoma that is not MSI-H or dMMR, who have disease progression following prior systemic therapy and are not candidates for curative surgery or radiation.”
Black Health Matters & ECANA
Black Health Matters and Endometrial Cancer Action Network for African Americans will team up to host a series of “meet-ups” this fall. Join us on November 1st at 6:30pm to meet Dr. Kemi Doll, project lead for ECANA. The address is below:
First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles and FAME Corporations
2270 S. Harvard Blvd.
Los Angeles California 90018
(323) 735-1251 Ext. 2201 (O)
(323) 998-9076- Fax (F)
pastorsoffice@famechurch.org
www.famechurch.org
There are more dates to be announced. Stay tuned ….
