Much of the attention on Pfizer, BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca has been on their Covid-19 vaccine efforts, and here is a look at what else is going on with these companies.
Numerous companies presented clinical trial data and updates at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Virtual Congress 2020.
AstraZeneca and Merck announced positive five-year follow-up data from the Phase III SOLO-1 trial which demonstrated a long-term progression-free survival benefit of Lynparza as a first-line maintenance treatment in patients with newly diagnosed, advanced BRCA-mutated ovarian cancer who were in complete or partial response to platinum-based chemotherapy.
Novartis announced that the Phase III COMBI-I trial of the company’s experimental checkpoint inhibitor spartalizumab in combination with Tafinlar (dabrafenib) and Mekinist (trametinib) failed to hit the primary endpoint in melanoma.
A strategic collaboration was inked that will combine BioNTech’s BNT111 FixVac product candidate and Regeneron and Sanofi’s checkpoint inhibitor Libtayo (cemiplimab) for the treatment of melanoma.
Merck’s Keytruda (pembrolizumab) received a rejection from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for each of six supplemental Biologics License Applications to update the dosing frequency of the checkpoint inhibitor to include every-six-weeks administration.
A late-stage clinical trial showed therapy combining Roche’s immunotherapy Tecentriq with two of the Swiss drugmaker’s other medicines helped people with a form of advanced melanoma.
A late-stage trial testing a combination of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.’s cancer drugs missed a main goal of preventing skin cancer from recurring in a certain group of patients.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted orphan drug designation to Partner Therapeutics Inc.’s Leukine (sargramostim), a yeast-derived recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor, for the potential treatment of Stage IIb-IV melanoma.
Humira’s dominance continues as the world’s top-selling prescription product as the biologic therapy is the first drug to exceed $20 billion in annual global sales.
