Posted on Jan. 15, 2020, 8:25 a.m.Updated on Jan 15, 2020 at 12:34
Since the beginning of the year, the American Merck MSD has been authorized to treat an additional 16,000 French patients each year
with its anti-cancer star the Keytruda
, against some 8,000 so far.
End of 2017, after spectacular beginnings against melanoma
, patients with the most common form of lung cancer had, in turn, seen their outlook dramatically changed with the possibility of
gain 16 months of life expectancy, thanks to this drug
. Two years later, Merck MSD takes another step forward with the reimbursement of Keytruda in four new therapeutic situations: lung cancer again, but this time, immediately, in combination with chemotherapy (8,000 patients), cancer of the bladder as a second line treatment, melanoma before surgery, and finally a form of blood cancer (Hodgkin lymphoma) when patients are in therapeutic failure.
Long-term action
This widening of the indications was accompanied by a renegotiation to lower the price of Keytruda with the Economic Committee for health products from 6,000 to 5,185 euros, the 21-day course. Even if progress in terms of patient survival is not always as spectacular as in lung cancer, all patients for whom the product acts (30% on average) benefit because immunotherapy is effective over time. To the point that, for some, the remission is such that one dares to stop treatment. No miracle therefore because many patients do not respond to treatment (without us knowing why) but major progress, for an entire population.
And it’s not over. Keytruda sales are expected to exceed $ 10 billion in 2019. Analysts expect sales to exceed 22 billion in 2025. In fact,
with more than 1,000 clinical trials
, alone or in combination with other anticancer drugs, in 30 types of tumors, Merck-MSD advances like a bulldozer, despite the efforts of its competitors
Roche, AstraZeneca or BMS, also resolved,
to capture part of the approximately 120 billion dollars in the immunotherapy market.
$ 250 million more
Merck obtained the green light last December in the United States to
another type of bladder cancer,
or 250 million dollars in additional potential turnover. The only competitor on the horizon at the moment is a gene therapy product that has not yet been approved. Another recent success: a category of breast cancer (called “triple negative”) for which Keytruda finally outperforms Roche’s Tecentriq. However, Merck-MSD also stumbles. Thus, Keytruda has not succeeded in surpassing Roche’s Tecentriq in a type of lung cancer (called “small cell”), which still represents 15% of cases.
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