UK patients with advanced melanoma can now access Merck's cancer drug Keytruda (pembrolizumab), an anti-PD-1 (programmed death receptor 1) antibody, although not yet approved by the European Medicines Agency. Keytruda, a new-generation oncology therapy from Kenilworth, New Jersey–based Merck, is the first therapy accepted under the Early Access to Medicines Scheme (EAMS), a program introduced in 2014 to help patients benefit from promising, innovative treatments before a license from European regulators. In the US, Keytruda is approved for patients with metastatic melanoma whose disease has worsened after trying Yervoy (ipilimumab), another immunotherapy (Nat. Biotechnol. 32, 847–848, 2014). Both Yervoy from New York–based Bristol-Myer Squibb and Keytruda are checkpoint inhibitors, but they work through different pathways. A head-to-head trial testing Keytruda against Yervoy in 830 patients with metastatic melanoma found that 74% of patients on Keytruda were still alive one year after starting treatment, compared with 58% on Yervoy. The phase 3 study results released April 19 point at Keytruda as the better first-line therapy for advanced melanoma rather than the current Yervoy.