Merck (MRK) and Eisai said Monday that results from a phase 3 trial evaluating Welireg and Lenvima for the treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma showed "statistically significant and clinically meaningful" improvement in its primary endpoint of progression-free survival compared to compared to cabozantinib.

The specific indication for the treatment of patients whose disease progressed on or after other treatments, the companies said.

The companies said the combined treatment reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 30% in the 747-patient study.

The companies also said the clinic said an interim analysis of the study showed "statistically significant" improvement in two secondary endpoints of objective response rate and duration of response.

In the study, serious adverse events were observed in 51.6% of patients receiving the drug combo compared with 43.9% of patients receiving cabozantinib, the companies said.

Welireg is made by Merck and Lenvima is made by Eisai.

Merck also said data from a phase 3 study of its drug Keytruda plus Welireg as an adjuvant for patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma after surgery showed "significantly improved" disease-free survival, the primary endpoint

The treatment reduced the risk of disease recurrence or death by 28%, the company said.

The safety profile of the drug combination was consistent with previous studies for both drugs, the company said.