4D pharma plc, is a world leader in the development of live biotherapeutics, announced an agreement with a subsidiary of MSD (tradename of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, N.J., USA) to conduct a clinical trial evaluating the combination of Keytruda (pembrolizumab), an anti-PD-1 therapy marketed by MSD, and 4D pharma's live biotherapeutic candidate MRx0518 in patients with solid tumours.

4D pharma plc is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, pioneering the development of Live Biotherapeutic Products (LBPs).

MRx0518, 4D's lead oncology programme, has shown therapeutic potential in a variety of tumour types in pre-clinical models and has the potential for synergy in combination with checkpoint inhibitor therapies.  The phase I study will evaluate safety, tolerability and preliminary clinical benefit of the combination of Keytruda with MRx0518 in patients who progressed on prior PD-1 inhibitor therapy with renal, bladder, melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer.

"At 4D we believe there is strong scientific rationale for evaluating our lead oncology programme MRx0518, in combination with a checkpoint inhibitor," said Duncan Peyton, founder and CEO of 4D pharma plc. "We are excited to work with MSD and look forward to collaborating on this project."

Founded in February 2014, 4D is a world leader in the development of live biotherapeutics, a novel and emerging class of drugs, defined by the FDA as biological products that contain a live organism, such as a bacteria, that is applicable to the prevention, treatment or cure of a disease.