Les Laboratoires Servier SAS is touting its phase III win with vorasidenib as the first major advance in decades for low-grade glioma, with the trial called Indigo scoring statistical significance on two measures against residual or recurrent isocitrate dehydrogenase-mutant disease. The Suresnes, France-based firm said Indigo met the primary endpoint of progression-free survival (PFS) and the key secondary endpoint of time to next intervention (TTNI). The results of the prespecified interim analysis proved not only statistically significant but also clinically meaningful in PFS and TTNI.

China’s NMPA approved Shanghai Shengdi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.’s adebrelimab (SHR-1316) for first-line treatment of extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC) in combination with chemotherapy. The approval in mainland China makes adebrelimab the third domestic PD-L1 monoclonal antibody to make it to the domestic market. Shanghai Shengdi is a subsidiary of Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine Co. Ltd.

Pfizer Inc.’s appetite for acquisitions shows no signs of abating as it announced this morning its plan to acquire biotech Seagen Inc. for a whopping $43 billion in a move that will double the size of its early stage oncology pipeline. Under the deal, unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both firms, Pfizer will pay Seagen $229 per share. Bothell, Wash.-based Seagen expects to amass $2.2 billion in revenue in 2023, representing 12% year-on-year-growth, royalties and collaboration and license agreements from its four, FDA-approved products for the treatment of solid tumors and hematologic malignancies, antibody-drug conjugate drugs Adcetris (brentuximab vedotin), Padcev (enfortumab vedotin) and Tivdak (tisotumab vedotin), and tyrosin kinase inhibitor Tukysa (tucatinib).

A deficiency in fumarate metabolism could be behind a new mechanism of inflammation mediated by mitochondrial DNA and RNA. Two independent and simultaneous studies described how the accumulation of fumarate in the mitochondria released the genetic material of this organelle through vesicles, activating an inflammatory signaling pathway.

Whether as primary tumors or metastases, brain tumors remain stubbornly intractable to the progress that has occurred in many other tumor types. As Igor Vivanco, who is a senior lecturer in the Institute of Pharmaceutical Science at King’s College London, noted in his talk at the European Society for Medical Oncology Targeted Anticancer Therapies (ESMO TAT) meeting in Paris this week, the last win in glioblastoma was the addition of temozolomide to the radiotherapy standard of care in 2005. And temozolomide’s benefit is measured in months, not years.

Abbisko Therapeutics Co. Ltd. and Allist Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. signed an exclusive licensing deal that gives Allist rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize Abbisko’s ABK-3376, an EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor for $188 million plus royalties.