Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare approved Merck & Co. Inc.'s Keytruda as first- and- second-line treatment of patients with certain types of advanced or recurrent non-small cell lung cancer.

The drug will be manufactured within the country and promoted with Taiho Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Merck said.

The drug was also recommended by the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use as first-line treatment of metastatic non-small cell lung cancer in adults. Keytruda is already approved for use in melanoma, lung, head and neck cancer in the U.S.