09:02 AM EDT, 05/15/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Immutep ( IMMP ) said Thursday its investigational drug eftilagimod alpha, or efti, combined with Merck's ( MRK ) Keytruda and doublet chemotherapy achieved a response rate of 60.8% and disease control rate of 90.2% in patients with advanced or metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer in an investigator-initiated trial.

The company said the 60.8% response rate regardless of PD-L1 expression is a "substantial improvement" from the historical control of 48%.

Safety continues to be favorable for the triple combination, the company said.

Immutep ( IMMP ) said it expects to present additional data from the trial at a medical conference within the year.

Shares of Immutep ( IMMP ) climbed 9.3% in recent premarket activity Thursday, while Merck ( MRK ) shares added 1%.