GILD
MRK
One door closes, another one swings open
Gilead and Merck are giving investors a little whiplash this week. The companies shut down the Phase 3 KEYNOTE-D46/EVOKE-03 lung cancer trial after a data review said the Trodelvy-Keytruda combo wasn’t likely to deliver a meaningful overall survival win.
That’s not the kind of headline you want when you’re hoping for a pipeline home run. The combo did show a numerical bump in progression-free survival, but not enough to make the statistical gods nod approvingly.
But the HIV story looks a lot better
On the flip side, the same duo also reported positive Phase 3 results for its investigational once-weekly oral HIV regimen, the islatravir/lenacapavir combo. Both ISLEND studies met their main efficacy endpoint, with the regimen showing non-inferiority against standard oral therapies.
That matters because a once-weekly, single-tablet option could be a pretty attractive upgrade for patients who are already virologically suppressed. Translation: fewer pills, fewer daily reminders, and potentially a more compelling commercial story if regulators eventually say yes.
What investors should care about
- The lung cancer setback trims some optimism around the Trodelvy-Keytruda combo.
- The HIV data gives Gilead and Merck another shot at a potentially differentiated product.
- The companies said they plan to take the HIV results to regulators worldwide and present the data publicly later.
Big picture: this is classic biopharma chess — one clinical program gets pulled off the board while another may be heading toward the finish line. If you own either stock, the pipeline still has plenty of plot twists left.