Synthekine, a biotech firm specializing in engineered cytokine therapeutics, announced  a major clinical collaboration with pharma powerhouse Merck to evaluate its first-in-class therapy, STK-012, in combination with Merck’s Keytruda and standard chemotherapy.

 

The partnership will focus on the ongoing SYNERGY-101 randomized Phase 2 trial for first-line, PD-L1 negative nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). STK-012 is an α/β-IL-2 receptor biased partial agonist designed to selectively activate tumor-fighting T cells while avoiding broader immune stimulation that can cause IL-2 toxicity.

 

“In our Phase 1b study, STK-012 in combination with pembrolizumab and chemotherapy has shown promising efficacy in first-line PD-L1 negative NSQ NSCLC patients, with a 50% response rate in this population presented at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer Annual Meeting 2025,” said Debanjan Ray, Chief Executive Officer of Synthekine. 

 

“We are excited to collaborate with Merck on our randomized Phase 2 study to further demonstrate the potential of this combination to deliver improved clinical outcomes for these patients, who receive limited benefit from current standard of care therapies.”

 

Under the agreement, Merck will supply Keytruda for use in the trial, which began enrolling patients in November 2025.

 

SYNERGY-101 will compare the safety and efficacy of STK-012 plus pembrolizumab and chemotherapy against the current standard of care in this difficult-to-treat patient population. Both companies will retain full commercial rights to their respective therapies, whether used alone or in combination.