Akeso jumps on ivonescimab's Keytruda beat
Chinese biopharma Akeso (HKEX: 9926.HK) has reported positive overall survival (OS) data for ivonescimab against Merck & Co's (NYSE: MRK) Keytruda (pembrolizumab) in the Phase III HARMONi-2 trial, presented as a late-breaking abstract at the World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) in Seoul.
This randomized, double-blind study compared ivonescimab, a first-in-class bispecific antibody targeting PD-1 and VEGF, against pembrolizumab monotherapy as first-line treatment for PD-L1-positive locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). At a data cutoff of August 20, 2026, with 36 months' median follow-up, ivonescimab showed a median OS of 30.8 months versus 22.6 months for pembrolizumab, a 27% reduction in risk of death.
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