Merck said Keytruda (pembrolizumab), an anti-PD-1 therapy, has simultaneously received five new approvals from the Japan Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency, including three expanded uses in advanced non-small lung cancer, one in melanoma, as well as a new indication in advanced microsatellite instability-high tumors. The following new approvals were all granted priority review by the PMDA:
How’s this for a paradox: The better cancer centers become at keeping patients alive, the more expensive cancer care becomes. This brutal tradeoff hits harder in rural areas, where the cancer burden is higher and the investigator and clinical trial representation is lower.
