Merck's Keytruda, on the heels of a first-line kidney cancer win, targets earlier, post-surgery use

Merck & Co.’s Keytruda already bears an FDA nod for use alongside Pfizer’s Inlyta as a first-line treatment for advanced kidney cancer. Now, it has shown it can be used even earlier, following surgery.

Keytruda monotherapy topped placebo at extending the time patients with early renal cell carcinoma lived without their disease coming back after surgical removal of a kidney, Merck said Thursday.