EMA recommends restrictions on Merck, Roche immunotherapies

ZURICH (Reuters) - The European Medicines Agency on Friday recommended restricting use of two immunotherapies, one from Roche and the other from Merck, in initial bladder cancer treatment, saying they may not work as well as chemotherapy in some patients.

“Early data from two clinical trials show reduced survival with (Merck’s) Keytruda and (Roche’s) Tecentriq when used as first-line treatments for urothelial cancer in patients with low levels of a protein called PD-L1,” the agency said. “The data indicate that Keytruda and Tecentriq may not work as well as chemotherapy medicines in this group of patients.”

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