Merck KGaA to Continue Testing Cancer Vaccine

Germany's Merck KGaA said it would start a new study testing its experimental lung cancer vaccine Stimuvax, which fell through in a previous late-stage trial.

Merck said it would test the drug, which it licensed from U.S. biotech firm Oncothyreon, on patients with locally advanced Stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), which cannot be surgically removed.

Stimuvax, also known as Tecemotide, failed to improve survival in a pivotal study in December, dealing a blow to the company and the high-risk field of using vaccines to fight tumours.

Merck said that data from an analysis of a predefined patient subgroup in this trial, however, showed some promise.