Daiichi Sankyo-Merck's cancer drug meets main goal in late-stage trial

(Reuters) -Daiichi Sankyo and Merck said on Tuesday that their drug, patritumab deruxtecan, met the main goal in a late-stage study in some patients with a type of lung cancer.

The drug helped patients live significantly longer without their cancer progressing, compared with patients who were treated with chemotherapy, the companies said.

The drug belongs to a class of treatments called antibody-drug conjugates, which have often been described as "guided-missile" cancer drugs.

Patritumab deruxtecan was tested in patients with non-small cell lung cancer who had a gene mutation called EGFR. Non-small cell lung cancer is the most common form of lung cancer.

The study focused on patients who had previously received treatment with a class of drugs known as tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

(Reporting by Sriparna Roy and Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)