Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA and Eisai Provide Update on Phase 3 LITESPARK-012 Trial Evaluating First-Line Combination Treatments for Certain Patients With Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma

TOKYO and RAHWAY, N.J., Apr 21, 2026 - (JCN Newswire) - Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA (known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada), and Eisai (Headquarters: Tokyo, CEO: Haruo Naito) today announced results from the Phase 3 LITESPARK-012 trial evaluating combination treatments for the firstline treatment of patients with advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The trial evaluated the triplet therapy of KEYTRUDA(R) (pembrolizumab), Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA's anti-PD-1 therapy, plus LENVIMA(R) (lenvatinib), the orally available multiple receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) discovered by Eisai, plus WELIREG(R) (belzutifan), Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA's first-in-class hypoxia-inducible factor-2 alpha (HIF-2a) inhibitor. The study also evaluated MK-1308A, the coformulation of KEYTRUDA and quavonlimab, Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA's investigational anti-CTLA-4 antibody, plus LENVIMA. Both combination regimens were compared to KEYTRUDA plus LENVIMA for these patients.