(Reuters) -Merck and Japan’s Eisai said on Wednesday they will shut down a late-stage study testing an experimental combination therapy to treat a type of liver cancer, after interim results showed the treatment was unlikely to improve overall survival.

The study tested Merck’s blockbuster drug Keytruda and Eisai’s Lenvima, along with a liver cancer procedure called transarterial chemoembolization (TACE), in patients with unresectable, non-metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma, which is the most common type of liver cancer.

This type of cancer is often diagnosed at an intermediate stage, where curative treatments such as resection, ablation or transplant are not viable. However, some patients may still be able to get treatments like TACE, which target the liver directly.

In an interim ana

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