Pfizer Inc said Tuesday it will test its Xalkori lung cancer drug with Merck & Co’s experimental immunotherapy pembrolizumab, in hopes the combination will improve the outcomes for patients taking the approved Pfizer therapy. The largest U.S. drugmakers said the combination study will begin in 2015 and be conducted by Pfizer.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Xalkori, which has annual sales of $400 million and is also known by its chemical name, crizotinib, was approved in 2011 for lung cancer patients who have a specific mutation in the so-called ALK gene, as determined by an approved diagnostic test.

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