With data due the first half of this year from the phase III trial testing Opdivo (nivolumab, Bristol Myers Squibb Co.) plus Nektar Therapeutics Inc.’s bempegaldesleukin (bempeg) in metastatic melanoma, the possibilities for engineered cytokines such as the latter remain alluring in many quarters.
In late February 2021, Oncopeptides AB scored a big win on the FDA’s accelerated approval for the first cancer peptide-drug conjugate, Pepaxto (melphalan flufenamide), in multiple myeloma. Less than eight months later, it was shutting down commercial operations and heading back to the drawing board after safety issues emerging in the confirmatory Ocean study prompted the Stockholm-based firm to pull Pepaxto from the market, just ahead of what was likely to be a negative FDA advisory panel vote.
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