Merck, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab), the company’s anti-PD-1 (programmed death receptor-1) therapy, for the treatment of patients with recurrent locally advanced or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma whose tumors express PD-L1 [Combined Positive Score (CPS) ≥1] as determined by an FDA-approved test, with disease progression on or after two or more prior lines of therapy including fluoropyrimidine- and platinum-containing chemotherapy and if appropriate, HER2/neu-targeted therapy.
Torque Therapeutics has come out of stealth mode to launch with a $21 million Series A financing. It is looking to raise another $14 million, according to its filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Merck & Co. has agreed to acquire Rigontec for up to €464 million (about $554 million), in a deal that will expand the cancer immunotherapy franchise of the Keytruda® (pembrolizumab) developer with a three-year-old Bonn University spinout whose technology targets the retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I) pathway.
Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc (Nasdaq:ADAP), a leader in T-cell therapy to treat cancer, today announced that GlaxoSmithKline plc (LSE:GSK) (NYSE:GSK) has exercised its option under a collaboration and license agreement signed in 2014 to exclusively license the right to research, develop, and commercialize Adaptimmune’s NY-ESO SPEAR T-cell therapy program. Further details will be provided in a conference call scheduled for 8:30 AM EDT this morning; dial-in and webcast details are provided below.
US regulators have placed on hold studies of French drugmaker Cellectis’ CAR-T therapy following a patient fatality.
Merck Ventures has become the latest group to invest in Macrophage Pharma and take a position on the UK biotech’s board of directors.
The adjuvanted trivalent influenza vaccine Fluad for use in people aged 65 years or older has been cleared by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
Cynvenio Biosystems has initiated a clinical study to evaluate its LiquidBiopsy ClearID test in combination with NK Score natural killer cell activity to monitor breast cancer patients in the US.
A five-year strategic research collaboration between AstraZeneca and its global biologics research and development arm MedImmune and Ethris, a company focussed on mRNA-based therapeutics with specific expertise in pulmonary disease.
Commenting on the Group’s results, Roche CEO Severin Schwan said: “In the first half of the year, both our Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics Divisions showed strong performance, very much driven by new product launches. Particularly pleasing is the very successful launch of Ocrevus for the treatment of two forms of multiple sclerosis. Based on our half-year performance, we raised the outlook for the full-year to mid-single digit sales growth.”
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