Pfizer and nclick="getInfo('1042'); return false;">Merck KGaA successfully got the nclick="storyWordlink('PD-L1'); return false;">PD-L1 antibody nclick="storyWordlink('Bavencio'); return false;">Bavencio over the US FDA’s finish line thanks to its orphan indication of Merkel cell carcinoma. As commercialisation proceeds, the German group is now thinking of the future of immuno-oncology by locking up bispecific assets.
During Asco, Merck announced a deal with the UK group F-star for a suite of bispecific antibodies, including a nclick="storyWordlink('Lag-3'); return false;">Lag-3/PD-L1 asset that is "close to the clinic," says Merck’s global research & development head Luciano Rossetti. Dual acting projects are quicker to develop than nclick="storyWordlink('PD-1'); return false;">PD-1 combinations, since with combos each element must first be tested separately; in addition, they could offer an alternative to two very expensive agents in an environment wher "financial toxicity" has become an nclick="storyWordlink('oft'); return false;">oft-repeated term.
"That gives you advantage in development and perhaps even makes the payer happy," Mr Rossetti said in an interview on the sidelines of Asco.
Moving swiftly
The F-star deal follows the announcement that nclick="storyWordlink('Merck'); return false;">Merck is trialling its own bispecific nclick="storyWordlink('"fusion protein"'); return false;">fusion protein, nclick="storyWordlink('M7824'); return false;">M7824, which acts on nclick="storyWordlink('PD-1'); return false;">PD-1 and nclick="storyWordlink('TGF'); return false;">TGF beta (Interview – German Merck unveils its secret weapon, January 9, 2017). Mr Rossetti says the project is moving more swiftly than nclick="storyWordlink('Bavencio'); return false;">Bavencio – first human trials began in late 2015, and today it has enrolled 600 patients in 14 expansion cohorts.
For now, nclick="storyWordlink('Merck'); return false;">Merck is moving these projects independently of the nclick="getInfo('1293'); return false;">Pfizer alliance, revenue from which will be its biggest growth driver. Key to that is nclick="storyWordlink('Bavencio'); return false;">Bavencio, the fourth of five antibodies acting on the nclick="storyWordlink('PD-1'); return false;">PD-1 pathway to receive US approval and the least loved among sellside analysts. Yet collaborators nclick="getInfo('1293'); return false;">Pfizer and nclick="getInf...
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