Merck' Keytruda Receives Approval From Health Canada For Biliary Tract Carcinoma In Adults

(RTTNews) - Thursday, Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) announced that Health Canada has approved Keytruda, also known as pembrolizumab, for the treatment of adult patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic biliary tract carcinoma when used alongside gemcitabine-based chemotherapy.

Biliary tract carcinoma is a rare and aggressive group of cancers affecting the gallbladder and bile ducts.

The company said that the approval is based on the findings of the Phase 3 KEYNOTE-966 trial, showing a significant improvement in overall survival compared to chemotherapy alone.

Keytruda was initially sanctioned in Canada in 2015 and is now prescribed for various conditions such as advanced renal cell carcinoma, bladder cancer, non-small cell lung carcinoma, primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma, classical Hodgkin lymphoma, colorectal cancer, endometrial carcinoma, cervical cancer, esophageal cancer, triple-negative breast cancer, melanoma, and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.