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The Keytruda Story

Most big drugs have a tangled history, and this one is certainly not going to break tradition... It was discovered accidentally, by biotech scientists looking for drugs that would tamp down the immune response in patients with autoimmune disease, and would stimulate, not block, PD1. Even after a potent PD1 inhibitor was identified and recognized as a potential cancer drug, the research program had to fight for funding through two mergers and acquisitions. After the program finally wound up at Merck, in 2009, it was considered such a low priority that it was shut down and placed on the out-license list. A term sheet (valuing the program at next to nothing) was reportedly in place, but pulled…

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Articles of Interest

Breast cancer drug may help thousands more women than previously thought

Pembrolizumab is used to treat triple-negative form of disease but researchers say it could be used more widely.

Cancer Drug Proves to Be Effective Against Multiple Tumors

It is the first time a drug has been approved for use against tumors that share a certain genetic profile, whatever their location in the body. Tens of thousands of cancer patients each year could benefit. “This is absolutely brilliant,” said Dr. José Baselga, physician in chief at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, which has just hired the study’s lead investigator, Dr. Luis A. Diaz Jr.

Coming for the king: Keytruda dominates the immunotherapy market, but challengers are lining up

Keytruda is not only the most successful cancer drug ever developed, but it ranks among the best medicines ever.

Drug that ‘melts away’ tumours hailed as ‘gamechanger’ for some bowel cancer patients

Pembrolizumab triples chance of survival for the 10-15% of patients with the right genetic makeup, study finds.

Immunity-boosting breast cancer drug could save thousands, finds UK research

Keytruda treatment found to cut risk of aggressive cancer returning after surgery by more than a third.

Immunotherapy gave me more time with my mum – and now it will help countless women with cervical cancer

But what exactly is immunotherapy and how can pembrolizumab help? “When given in combination with chemotherapy, this innovative drug – which is a milestone in cervical cancer treatment - harnesses the power of the immune system to attack cancer," Dr Susana Banerjee, consultant medical oncologist and research lead for the gynaecology unit at The Royal Marsden, explains. "It works by targeting and blocking a protein called PD-L1 to enable immune cells to find and destroy cancerous cells,” she continues.

Keytruda may be a miracle cancer drug, but can those who need it afford it?

The immune system launches an attack on intruders by releasing killer cells called T-lymphocytes, or T-cells. When these T-cells attack cancer cells, a certain protein, called PD-1 accumulates on the T-cells. The cancer cells then have their own protein that binds to PD-1, and this interaction cleverly switches off the T-cells, stopping them from attacking the cancer. Keytruda works by binding to PD-1 and therefore blocking the cancer cells from using their own protein to slot into the same spot and switch off the immune cells. So with Keytruda, the T-cells do their job and effectively attack the cancer. Keytruda is also known as an anti PD-1 immunotherapy.

Keytruda Side Effects | The Patient Story

Keytruda works by blocking the PD-1 pathway, which is found on certain immune cells called T cells. When cancer cells are present in the body, they can produce a protein called PD-L1, which binds to the PD-1 protein on T cells and inhibits their ability to attack the cancer cells. By blocking the PD-1 protein, Keytruda prevents the cancer cells from hiding and allows your T cells to attack cancer cells. Immunotherapy drugs like Keytruda are specifically developed to give the immune system a heads-up about those mutated cells, enabling it to track them down and eliminate them.

Keytruda vs. Opdivo: No Contest

You don't always get to see a head-to-head showdown like this one: Merck's Keytruda (pembrolizumab) and Bristol Myers-Squibb's Opdivo (nivolumab) were both the subject of presentations at the European Society of Medical Oncology conference, reporting on non-small cell lung cancer trials, and there doesn't seem to be any doubt that Keytruda looked better.

Merck Keeps Striking Out on Expanding Its Cancer-Drug Juggernaut

Keytruda, one of the world’s top-selling drugs, powered its maker for the past decade. The therapy’s annual sales neared $21 billion last year, about a third of Merck’s revenue. Yet a drop in sales looms after Keytruda’s main patent expires in 2028. To extend sales further, Merck has been seeking to combine Keytruda with other drugs, which could get new patents if proven to work. Most haven’t, however, intensifying pressure on the company to find other sources of revenue and contributing to a risky and costly deal-making spree.

The Startling History Behind Merck's New Cancer Blockbuster

Few programs capture this enthusiasm better than Merck’s pembrolizumab, or pembro (brand name: Keytruda), a humanized monoclonal antibody blocking the T-cell “off” switch, PD1... Yet the success of pembro was anything but inevitable. It was discovered accidentally, by biotech scientists looking for drugs that would tamp down the immune response in patients with autoimmune disease, and would stimulate, not block, PD1. Even after a potent PD1 inhibitor was identified and recognized as a potential cancer drug, the research program had to fight for funding through two mergers and acquisitions.

Resources

Keytruda

KEYTRUDA is a type of immunotherapy that works by blocking the PD-1 pathway to help prevent cancer cells from hiding. KEYTRUDA helps the immune system do what it was meant to do: detect and fight cancer cells.

National Cancer Institute

Pembrolizumab is a type of targeted therapy drug called an immune checkpoint inhibitor (a type of immunotherapy). It is a monoclonal antibody that binds to the protein PD-1 on the surface of immune cells called T cells. It works by keeping cancer cells from suppressing the immune system. This allows the immune system to attack and kill the cancer cells.