Emboldened by 2017’s back-to-back FDA approvals of the first drugs that use genetically engineered patient immune cells – Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel) to treat leukemia and Yescarta (axicabtagene ciloleucel) to combat large-B-cell lymphomas – immunotherapy researchers are continuing to revolutionizing cancer treatment. But uneven patient response rates and the side effects often associated with immunotherapies are putting high priority on accurately identifying which patients would benefit most from particular treatment options.
With two new approvals for the vaunted checkpoint inhibitor Keytruda and a rapidly expanding oncology pipeline following M&A deals, Merck & Co. plans to share outlines for the future of the company’s cancer treatment at the first investor day held in five years.
With the books closed on another ASCO meeting, it’s clear to see that checkpoint inhibitors keep showing a promise.
Synlogic Inc. announced a new clinical collaboration with Roche to explore Synlogic’s Synthetic Biotic medicine SYNB1891 – a dual innate immune activator engineered to express a STING agonist – in combination with Roche’s PD-L1-blocking checkpoint inhibitor atezolizumab (marketed as Tecentriq) in patients with advanced solid tumors.
Vaunted immunotherapy pioneers from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute won a key court case that could be worth billions of dollars.
Merck & Co. reported that the checkpoint inhibitor Keytruda had mixed results as a first-line treatment of advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma.
Researchers with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York have had promising results with a cancer vaccine.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company announced results from pooled analyses of survival data from four studies (CheckMate -017, -057, -063 and -003; n=664) in patients with previously treated advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who were treated with Opdivo (nivolumab).
Seattle Genetics and Tokyo-based Astellas Pharma announced positive top-line data from the first cohort of the Phase II EV-201 trial evaluating enfortumab vedotin in patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer who had previously received both platinum-based chemotherapy and a checkpoint inhibitor.
AbbVie’s Humira, the world’s top-selling prescription medicine since 2012, brought the Illinois-based company nearly $20 billion in revenue in 2018.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company announced new results from the Phase 3 CheckMate -214 study, showing that therapy with Opdivo (nivolumab) plus low-dose Yervoy (ipilimumab) continued to demonstrate long-term survival benefits in patients with previously untreated advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC).
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June 2019 Focus: Payer access, biotech/biopharma, DTC, rare diseases, and more!
