1.Merck & Co.'s Keytruda jumped further in front of its rivals Monday, as the company announced European regulators approved the blockbuster cancer drug as a first-line treatment for a common type of lung cancer in a combination with two chemotherapy drugs.

2.The European Commission gave the OK for Keytruda in metastatic nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) for adults whose tumors have no EGFR- or ALK-positive mutations when used as a combo therapy with Eli Lilly's Alimta and platinum chemotherapy.

3.Keytruda is now the only anti-PD-1 drug approved in Europe in the first-line NSCLC setting as part of a combo regimen. As such, it "adds to the rapidly growing role of Keytruda as a foundation for the treatment of lung cancer," said Roger Perlmutter, president of Merck Research Laboratories, in a statement.