Keytruda

Keytruda Latest News

Recent investigations have found an alarming rise of a counterfeit market in Keytruda fuelled by lack of access for most patients, and use of standardised high dosing that increases costs.

About Keytruda

• It is the brand name of pembrolizumab, an immunotherapy drug used for treating several cancers.
• It was manufactured by US-based global pharma major Merck & Co (MSD)
• It belongs to a class called “checkpoint inhibitors” — drugs that remove the brakes preventing the body’s T cells, which are a crucial weapon in the body’s immune system, from attacking cancerous cells.
• In other words, it uses the body’s own immune system to fight cancer.
• It belongs to the category of monoclonal antibodies.
  • Monoclonal antibodies are laboratory-made molecules designed to bind with specific targets, enabling the immune system to identify and destroy cancerous cells.
• Working

• • Pembrolizumab works by attaching to receptors called PD-1 on T cells.
  • This prevents T cells from binding with corresponding PD-L1 receptors on cancer cells, letting them identify the abnormal cells and triggering an immune response.
• It was first approved by the US FDA in 2014 for advanced skin cancer, 
• Keytruda is now used globally for certain lung cancers, cervical cancer, renal cell cancer and aggressive breast cancer, among others. 

Source: IE

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