Keytruda is now allowed only for the patients whose tumor expression levels of the biomarker PD-L1 meet a combined positive score of 10 or higher. Tecentriq can only be used where PD-L1 immune cells can cover only 5% or more of their tumor area.
On Wednesday, a day after Keytruda got the thumbs up for cervical cancer, the drug was approved for treatment of a rare form of non-Hodgkins lymphoma patients who cancer returned after at least two previous treatment lines. Last year, Keytruda also got an indication for classical Hodgkin lymphoma.
Along with new drug partner Merck, the British drugmaker displayed results showing that adding Lynparza to Johnson & Johnson prostate cancer fighter Zytiga was a more potent disease-fighter than Zytiga alone. As compared to a time-frame of 8.2 months for solo Zytiga, the combo effectively prevented disease progression for 13.8 months.
Pharma giant Merck & Co. revealed Keytruda had perfectly completed its final-stage research on the drug for previously untreated patients with skin cancer, who represent about 25% to 30% of the overall market.
Though the US stands first in the race in terms of sales and growth, it is highly believed that China would reach the peak in the pharma market by 2022. At present, since there has been a decrease in public health funding, there has been a slight fall in pharmerging countries like Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC). But it is believed that the condition of these pharmerging countries will improve in the next five years [1].
According to reports, the biotechnology company Abpro has rescheduled its $96 million IPO, delaying a capital infusion it hoped would support the first clinical trials of its lead product candidates over the next year.
With a view to widening the scope of treatment for ovarian cancer patients, EU regulators have greenlighted MSD’s Lynparza and stamped approval for a new dosing regimen and tablet formulation for AstraZeneca.
GSK is shifting resources towards key therapeutic classes, including respiratory disease.
South Korean pharmaceutical firm Hanmi Pharmaceutical is expected to cease development of Olita, a lung cancer treatment, following its slow progress in clinical trials and cancellation of licensing deals with foreign drug makers.
AstraZeneca and Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, N.J., US (Merck: known as MSD outside the US and Canada) today presented data from the Phase III OlympiAD trial, showing the final overall survival (OS) results for LYNPARZA®(olaparib) in metastatic breast cancer at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in Chicago, April 14-18, 2018.
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