Cofactor Genomics Inc. opened the non-small-cell lung cancer portion of its study of the Oncoprism test, which predicts response to immunotherapy. The Predicting Immunotherapy Efficacy from Analysis of Pre-treatment Tumor Biopsies (PREDAPT) trial will study the test’s predictive ability in 11 cancers in total.
Seven fatalities that could be related to hemorrhagic events in Macrogenics Inc.’s phase II trial of the monoclonal antibody enoblituzumab for treating head and neck cancer has led to the study’s closure.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. proposes to buy Checkmate Pharmaceuticals Inc. though an all-cash price of $10.50 per share for about $250 million. That’s pretty much on target with Checkmate’s April 19 closing share price (NASDAQ:CMPI) of $10.35, as the stock gained a staggering 326% on the day.
Debiopharm International SA is more interested in developing drugs than marketing them. Bertrand Ducrey, CEO of Debiopharm, said he envisions the drugs the company is stewarding through development as a "living pipeline" that needs to be refreshed as drugs get to late-stage development. So Debiopharm is shipping global rights to xevinapant (Debio-1143) and its follow-on inhibitor of apoptosis proteins antagonist, Debio-4028, to Merck KGaA, of Darmstadt, Germany.
With the FDA approval of Keytruda (pembrolizumab, Merck & Co. Inc.) in the front-line setting of metastatic or unresectable, recurrent head and neck cancer squamous cell carcinoma, the space has become a race to develop drugs using a variety of mechanisms of action to improve the efficacy of the anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody.
HONG KONG – China’s Shanghai Junshi Biosciences Co. Ltd. has struck a deal with Merck KGaA for a clinical trial program in China to investigate the efficacy and safety of Junshi’s anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody (MAb), Tuoyi (toripalimab) in combination with Merck’s Erbitux (cetuximab) as a treatment for recurrent and/or metastatic squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck (SCCHN).
HONG KONG – China’s Shanghai Junshi Biosciences Co. Ltd. has struck a deal with Merck KGaA for a clinical trial program in China to investigate the efficacy and safety of Junshi’s anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody (MAb), Tuoyi (toripalimab) in combination with Merck’s Erbitux (cetuximab) as a treatment for recurrent and/or metastatic squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck (SCCHN).
