Cancer
The centerpiece of the acquisition is petosemtamab, Merus’ bispecific antibody targeting EGFR and LGR5, which in May demonstrated best-in-class potential for head-and-neck cancer.
The FDA in September issued two rejections for spinal muscular atrophy therapies—both linked to manufacturing problems—and granted approvals in Barth syndrome and for a subcutaneous version of Merck’s Keytruda that could be key to the blockbuster’s future earnings.
From more than 30 target action dates in the last three months of the year, BioSpace has narrowed the list to six regulatory decisions that could have far-reaching implications for biopharma and patients.
The company was awaiting $70 million from HealthCare Royalty but missed an agreed-upon payment condition.
Phase III data showed that Inluriyo improves progression-free survival versus standard endocrine therapy.
Truist analysts called the results “encouraging” while pointing out certain unknowns in the data. Immuneering plans to kick off a registrational trial for atebimetinib later this year.
For the last two years, Keytruda has reigned as the world’s top-selling drug—a distinction under threat with key patent protections expiring in 2028.
Moving forward, Innate will focus on the clinical development of its antibody-drug conjugate IPH4502, the lymphoma candidate lacutamab and the AstraZeneca-partnered monalizumab.
The White House is clamping down on pharma’s ability to buy new molecules from Chinese biotechs; Sanofi, Merck and others abandon the U.K. after the introduction of a sizeable levy; Novo CEO Maziar Mike Doustdar lays off 9,000 while the company presents new data at EASD; Capsida loses a patient in a gene therapy trial; and CDER Director George Tidmarsh walks back comments on FDA adcomms.
On the FDA’s docket for the back half of September is Merck’s proposed subcutaneous formulation of its blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda.
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