Merck Announces Week 96 Data from Phase 2b Study Evaluating Islatravir in Combination With Doravirine in Adults With HIV-1 Infection

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Oct 08, 2020
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Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today announced Week 96 data from the Phase 2b trial (NCT03272347) evaluating the efficacy and safety of islatravir, the company’s investigational oral nucleoside reverse transcriptase translocation inhibitor (NRTTI), in combination with doravirine (PIFELTRO™), in treatment-naïve adults with HIV-1 infection. Week 96 findings demonstrated that the combination of islatravir and doravirine maintained virologic suppression (as measured by the number of study participants achieving HIV-1 RNA levels <50 copies/mL, similar to DELSTRIGO™(doravirine/lamivudine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate)), and the findings were consistent with Week 48 results. Additional Week 96 data from the study show low rates of participants meeting the definition of protocol-defined virologic failure (PDVF) in both the islatravir plus doravirine and the DELSTRIGO treatment arms, and no participants in either arm met the criteria for resistance testing. Merck also announced results from Phase 1/1b studies for MK-8507, the company’s investigational once-weekly oral non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI), which showed that the antiviral potency and pharmacokinetics of MK-8507 support further investigation for once-weekly oral administration as part of combination antiretroviral therapy. These analyses were presented as oral and poster presentations at the virtual 2020 International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV Infection (HIV+Glasgow+2020).