Merck partners with Perspective on cancer trial

Merck entered a clinical trial collaboration and supply agreement with radiopharmaceutical developer Perspective Therapeutics. The partnership will evaluate Perspective's targeted alpha-particle therapy [212Pb]PSV359 in combination with Merck's anti-PD-1 cancer drug Keytruda.

Under the agreement, Perspective is sponsoring the study while Merck provides pembrolizumab at no cost. The combination will be tested under an amendment to an ongoing Phase 1/2a trial in patients with specific types of non-small cell lung cancer and colorectal cancer expressing fibroblast activation protein alpha.

The ongoing trial, listed under clinicaltrials.gov identifier NCT06710756, has already completed enrollment across its first three monotherapy dose cohorts. The study seeks to establish safety, tolerability, and the recommended Phase 2 dose for the therapy.