The cancer medication Keytruda is the world’s best-selling drug. But with lower-priced competition set to arrive as soon as 2028, Keytruda’s manufacturer, Merck, is on the brink of losing tens of billions of dollars in sales.
To keep Keytruda revenue flowing, Merck followed a well-worn playbook. It developed a new version of the drug, given as a shot under the skin, which the Food and Drug Administration approved on Friday.
The company is talking up the new version as quicker and easier for patients than the original therapy, which is given through tubes as an intravenous infusion.
Keytruda is approved to treat 18 types of cancer, including of the skin, lung, breast and colon. It has been given to 2.9 million patients and helped former President Jimmy Carter extend his life by nearly a decade. Since arriving in 2014, Keytruda has generated $146 billion in sales for Merck. The drug accounts for nearly half of Merck’s revenue.
Government-funded programs like Medicare cover much of the cost of the cancer drug, which has a sticker price of about $204,000 a year. Merck has not yet said how much it plans to charge for the new shot version.
Company executives have said they plan to debut the shot, Keytruda Qlex, this fall and expect up to 40 percent of Keytruda users to be on it by 2027. Dr. Marjorie Green, an executive at Merck, called the new version “a meaningful advance” and said the company developed it “to address patient and provider needs and help simplify the treatment experience.”
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The post A New Shot for Cancer Is Convenient, but Poised to Keep Prices High appeared first on New York Times.
