Rise and shine, everyone, another busy day is on the way. We can tell by the sound of the motor vehicles passing by our window and the furious panting of the official mascots as they forage for breakfast on the campus grounds. Even Mrs. Pharmalot is up and about earlier than usual thanks to her own hectic agenda. As for us, we are engaged in the usual ritual of brewing cups of stimulation. Our choice today is blueberry cobbler, a household favorite. As always, you are invited to join us. The neurons could use all the help they can get. Meanwhile, here are a few items of interest for you to digest as you embark on your own journey today, which we hope is meaningful and satisfying. On that note, time to hustle. Best of luck, and do keep in touch. …
In a move to safeguard its dominant position in cancer treatments, Merck agreed to license a new drug from LaNova Medicines for $588 million upfront and as much as $2.7 billion in potential milestone payments, STAT notes. The cancer immunotherapy Keytruda, which is Merck’s most important product and the best-selling drug in the world with $23 billion in annual sales, is set to lose patent protection and face competition from generic drugmakers as early as 2028. Investors are already fretting about what will happen at Merck when revenues from the medicine begin to decline. A Phase 1 clinical trial of the LaNova drug is currently enrolling patients in China. The medicine is called a bispecific antibody that targets both PD-1, the same molecular target as Keytruda, and VEGF, which promotes the growth of blood vessels that feed tumors. By purchasing rights to develop an apparently similar medicine, Merck would appear to be validating the promise of the new mechanism.
GSK reported that its blood cancer drug significantly reduced the risk of death when combined with another treatment, further boosting the prospects of bringing the previously withdrawn medicine back to market, Bloomberg News writes. Blenrep helped patients whose myeloma has relapsed to live longer when combined with the cancer therapy BorDex. The company said that the results of the late-stage trial are “potentially transformative” for patients and that the data on Blenrep are likely to change how some patients with myeloma are treated. The results could help convince regulators of the efficacy of the drug, which is part of GSK’s push into cancer treatments. In 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Blenrep should be withdrawn from the market following a clinical trial failure in myeloma. The European Medicines Agency also recommended that the conditional approval for the drug shouldn’t be renewed. GSK has refiled in the U.S., Europe, and Japan.
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