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Merck halts Phase 3 Lynparza for futility

By Brian Buntz | July 18, 2022

Merck in the Drug Discovery & Development Pharma 50Merck (NYSE:MRK) has announced that it will stop the Phase 3 LYNK-003 trial focused on Lynparza (olaparib) with or without bevacizumab for patients with unresectable or metastatic colorectal cancer.

Two experimental arms in the trial, one focused on Lynparza as monotherapy or in combination with the immunotherapy drug bevacizumab, will be suspended.

The primary endpoint of the trial was progression-free survival.

The study focused on patients without progression after first-line therapy.

Merck made the decision after receiving feedback from an independent Data Monitoring Committee (DMC) following review from an interim analysis.

The PARP inhibitor Lynparza was first developed by KuDOS Pharmaceuticals and the University of Pennsylvania.

AstraZeneca acquired KuDOS Pharmaceuticals in 2005.

In 2021, the drug jointly earned AstraZeneca and Merck $3.7 billion.

The two companies continue to develop Lynparza for a variety of oncology indications, including metastatic breast, prostate, ovarian and pancreatic cancer.

The drug first won FDA approval for maintenance treatment of ovarian cancer in 2017.

MRK shares dipped 2.76% to $92.34 while AZN shares were up 0.63% to £11,200.00.


Filed Under: clinical trials, Drug Discovery, Oncology
Tagged With: AstraZeneca, Lynparza, Merck
 

About The Author

Brian Buntz

As the pharma and biotech editor at WTWH Media, Brian has almost two decades of experience in B2B media, with a focus on healthcare and technology. While he has long maintained a keen interest in AI, more recently Brian has made making data analysis a central focus, and is exploring tools ranging from NLP and clustering to predictive analytics.

Throughout his 18-year tenure, Brian has covered an array of life science topics, including clinical trials, medical devices, and drug discovery and development. Prior to WTWH, he held the title of content director at Informa, where he focused on topics such as connected devices, cybersecurity, AI and Industry 4.0. A dedicated decade at UBM saw Brian providing in-depth coverage of the medical device sector. Engage with Brian on LinkedIn or drop him an email at bbuntz@wtwhmedia.com.

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