Merck KGaA, of Darmstadt, Germany, and Pfizer Inc., of New York, started an international phase III study (EMR 100070-004) designed to assess the efficacy and safety of the investigational cancer immunotherapy avelumab (MSB0010718C), compared with docetaxel, in patients with stage IIIb/IV non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have experienced disease progression after receiving a prior platinum-containing doublet therapy.