Merck's Keytruda stages comeback in head and neck cancer with trial win in earlier-stage disease

Merck & Co. hopes a new positive trial readout can return Keytruda to glory in head and neck cancer.

After a pivotal trial failure two years ago in unresected locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), Merck said Tuesday that a phase 3 study of Keytruda in resected HNSCC has met its main goal.