Good News -- But Unsurprising: Health Canada Approves Yet Another Indication For Merck's Keytruda®, As A Combo-Therapy.

We won't run our immateriality graphic, here -- as this is very much a largish piece of good news -- Canada is a vast market. However, this is likely mostly already "priced in" to Merck's NYSE trading, as it was always (for the last two years, at least) seen as largely inevitable.

Even so, here's the latest, from SA:

. . .Merck has received approval from Health Canada for a combination therapy for patients with advanced gastric and gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma.

The regulator approved Merck's anti-PD-1 therapy, Keytruda (pembrolizumab), in combination with trastuzumab, fluoropyrimidine- and platinum-containing chemotherapy, for the first-line treatment of adult patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic HER2 positive gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma whose tumors express PD-L1.

This approval is based on the results from the Phase 3 KEYNOTE-811 trial, which demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival compared to placebo in combination with trastuzumab and chemotherapy in the intention-to-treat study population. . . .

Onward -- to warmer and sunnier days. . . with dreams of Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba dancing in my head, for a Thanksgiving theatrical release, later this year. Grin.

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