BTC is a collective term for a group of rare and aggressive gastrointestinal cancers, made up of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (iCC), extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (eCC), and gallbladder carcinoma (GBC).[2],[3],[4] Surgery is the only curative treatment, but most patients present with advanced disease and therefore have a limited survival.[4] Approximately 140,000 cases of BTC are estimated to occur annually world-wide.[5] However, incidence of BTC varies in different parts of the world: the incidence of cholangiocarcinomas is rising in the Western world, with reports of up to 2 in 100,000. By contrast, in Asian countries, the incidence is much higher.[3] GBC also has an incidence of 2 in 100,000,?but is much more prevalent in parts of South America.[3] Collectively these cancers present late in the majority of patients and long-term outcomes for resectable patients are poor with median survival in the advanced setting less than 1?year.[4],[6],[7],[8]
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Merck is a leading science and technology company in healthcare, life science and performance materials. Almost 53,000 employees work to further develop technologies that improve and enhance life - from biopharmaceutical therapies to treat cancer or multiple sclerosis, cutting-edge systems for scientific research and production, to liquid crystals for smartphones and LCD televisions. In 2017, Merck generated sales of EUR 15.3 billion in 66 countries.
Founded in 1668, Merck is the world's oldest pharmaceutical and chemical company. The founding family remains the majority owner of the publicly listed corporate group. Merck holds the global rights to the Merck name and brand. The only exceptions are the United States and Canada, where the company operates as EMD Serono, MilliporeSigma and EMD Performance Materials.
References
1) Hanaoka M et al, eds. Drug-Induced Lung Injury. Singapore: Springer; 2017. https://www.springer.com/us/book/9789811... 2) Blair A B et al. Immunotherapy as a treatment for biliary tract cancers: A review of approaches with an eye to the future. Current Problems in Cancer (2017) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.currproblcance... 3) Goldstein D et al. New molecular and immunotherapeutic approaches in biliary cancer. ESMO Open (2017). Published online 2017 Mar 27. doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1136%2Fesmoopen-2016-000152 4) Jain A et al. Molecular profiling of biliary tract cancer: a target rich disease. Journal of Gastrointestinal Oncology (2016) 7(5): 797-803. https://dx.doi.org/10.21037%2Fjgo.2016.0... 5) Global Burden of Disease Study 2013. The Lancet 2015;385(9963):117-171. 6) GBD. Mortality and causes of death collaborators. global, regional, and national age-sex specific all-cause and cause-specific mortality for 240 causes of death, 1990-2013: a systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study 2013. Lancet 2013;2015:117-71 7) Marcano-Bonilla et al. Biliary tract cancers: epidemiology, molecular pathogenesis and genetic risk associations. Chin Clin Oncol 2016;5:61. no 5. http://dx.doi.org/10.21037/cco.2016.10.0... 8) Hezel AF et al. Genetics of biliary tract cancers and emerging targeted therapies. J Clin Oncol 2010;28:3531-40. http://dx.doi.org/10.1200/JCO.2009.27.47...
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