10:43 AM EDT, 05/09/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Merck ( MRK ) said Thursday that Health Canada has approved Keytruda plus gemcitabine-based chemotherapy for treating adults with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic biliary tract carcinoma, or BTC.

BTC is a group of aggressive cancers in the gallbladder and bile ducts and the second most common type of primary liver cancer, the company said.

The approval is based on a placebo-controlled phase 3 trial of Keytruda, or pembrolizumab, plus gemcitabine and cisplatin that achieved its primary endpoint of statistically significant improvement in overall survival, the company said.

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