Merck and Kelun-Biotech reported a Phase 3 readout showing sacituzumab tirumotecan (sac-TMT) combined with Keytruda cut the risk of disease progression or death by 65% versus Keytruda alone in first-line, treatment-naïve PD-L1-positive NSCLC in China. The data come from the OptiTROP-Lung05 study interim analysis. The reported progression-free survival benefit was paired with a preliminary overall survival trend favoring the combination, though OS maturity was not reached at the data cutoff. Merck’s Keytruda performance served as a comparator to related PD-1xVEGF bispecifics, as China regulators previously asked for OS analysis in the Harmoni-2 trial before the full profile is fully understood for every comparator strategy.