Gilead and Merck’s latest trial success and flop By Elaine Chen June 9, 2026 0 min Stat News Share Summary Takeaways Listen Insight Report Clinical Scorecard Quiz Poll Top Institutions 1 Gilead and Merck's experimental HIV pill successfully suppressed the virus in two large trials, offering a weekly treatment option. 2 The HIV pill combines Merck's islatravir and Gilead's lenacapavir, part of a trend towards longer-acting HIV medications. 3 Gilead and Merck's Phase 3 study of Trodelvy plus Keytruda for lung cancer was halted due to lack of significant improvement in survival. 4 Trodelvy is approved for certain breast cancers but has not shown benefit in other cancer types, marking a setback for Gilead. 5 Merck is developing a competing TROP-2-targeted antibody, sac-TMT, which showed a 65% reduction in tumor progression in lung cancer.
