When Merck acquired cCAM Biotherapeutics in Israel in the summer of 2015, R&D chief Roger Perlmutter and his crew were intrigued by the potential of its lead drug, CM-24, in targeting the immune checkpoint protein CEACAM1. The drug, in Phase I, offered an opportunity for a range of cancers where the pharma giant has been closely focused.
In Perlmutter’s words the drug hit a sweet spot for the developer of Keytruda: “stimulating tumor-directed immune responses.”
It didn’t work.
