07:58 AM EDT, 05/13/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Merc (MRK) said Monday it halted the vibostolimab and pembrolizumab combination arm of its phase 3 trial evaluating investigational adjuvant treatments for patients with resected high-risk melanoma.

Data so far showed that the primary endpoint of recurrence-free survival met the pre-specified futility criteria. However, the drug company said that a higher rate of discontinuation of all adjuvant therapy by patients in the coformulation arm versus the pembrolizumab-only arm, mostly due to adverse experiences, made it unlikely that the drug combination arm of the trial could show statistically significant improvements.

Based on an independent data monitoring committee's recommendation, Merck ( MRK ) recommends that patients receiving the coformulation be treated with pembrolizumab, also known as Keytruda.

Keytruda is already approved in the US for the treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma and for the adjuvant treatment of adult and pediatric patients with stage IIB, IIC, or III melanoma following complete resection.

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