Merck & Co. Gets Key European Backing for Welireg in Two Uses

By Colin Kellaher

Merck & Co. said a key European regulatory committee has recommended conditional approval of its Welireg oral cancer drug in a pair of indications.

Merck on Friday said the recommendations from the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use cover Welireg as monotherapy for adults with certain tumors associated with the rare genetic condition von Hippel-Lindau disease, and for certain adults with previously treated advanced renal cell carcinoma, the most common type of kidney cancer.

The Rahway, N.J., drugmaker said the European Commission, which generally follows the CHMP's advice, is expected to make a final decision in the first quarter of 2025.

Merck reported Welireg sales of $349 million for the first nine months of 2024, more than double year-earlier levels.

Write to Colin Kellaher at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

12-13-24 0745ET