Merck, Pfizer Report Positive Results From Combined Bladder-Cancer Trial

By Elias Schisgall

Merck & Co.'s Keytruda in combination with an antibody-drug conjugate from Pfizer and Astellas Pharma led to a 47% reduction in the risk of tumor recurrence, progression or death in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer in a Phase 3 trial.

Merck and Pfizer said Friday that the combination of enfortumab vedotin, trademarked as Padcev, and Keytruda also led to 79% of patients in the trial being event-free after two years, compared with 66% treated with standard of care chemotherapy.

The drug combination also led to a 35% reduced risk of death, a key secondary endpoint for the trial, the companies said. About 76% of patients in the trial experienced grade 3 or higher adverse events, which the companies said was consistent with prior experiences with the combination.

Merck was recently trading up 1.5% at $121.09 in Friday morning trading. Pfizer gained 0.4%.

"These compelling data, reinforced by the precedented EV-303 results, suggest a transformative opportunity to establish PADCEV plus pembrolizumab as the next standard of care if approved, and provide a meaningful step forward for patients and their families," said Pfizer Chief Oncology Officer Jeff Legos.

The combination of the two treatments is already approved for adult patients with urothelial cancer in the U.S., Europe, and several other countries.

Write to Elias Schisgall at elias.schisgall@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 27, 2026 10:43 ET (15:43 GMT)