Bris­tol-My­ers’ $BMY Op­di­vo may be about to cede its top place in the PD-1/L1 world to Mer­ck, but in Chi­na to­day, they’re num­ber 1.

The Chi­na Drug Ad­min­is­tra­tion has ap­proved Op­di­vo for sec­ond line treat­ment of non-small cell lung can­cer, mark­ing the first of­fi­cial en­try of a check­point pi­o­neer in­to the boom­ing health­care mar­ket.

Bris­tol-My­ers, which has been fight­ing a los­ing war with Mer­ck for dom­i­nance in the NSCLC field in the US, wrapped their Phase III with a pre­dom­i­nant­ly Chi­nese group of pa­tients late last year, hus­tling the pos­i­tive re­sults to reg­u­la­tors as they looked to flank their ri­vals in Asia.

Chi­nese of­fi­cials re­spond­ed with a fast-paced ap­proval that took on­ly six months to achieve, high­light­ing a thor­ough reg­u­la­to­ry shake­up that has brought a host of top de­vel­op­ers in­to the mar­ket. Their an­nounce­ment in­clud­ed a note that the check­point ex­tend­ed over­all sur­vival by “around three months” in pa­tients with an ad­vanced case.

In a state­ment from the agency, au­thor­i­ties not­ed:

BMS ini­ti­at­ed and com­plet­ed clin­i­cal tri­als for Op­di­vo in ad­vanced NSCLC pa­tients whose can­cer pro­gressed af­ter plat­inum-based chemother­a­py, and used that to sub­mit their im­port­ed new drug ap­pli­ca­tion. The CDA ac­cel­er­at­ed the as­sess­ment us­ing the pri­or­i­ty re­view path­way, in­clud­ing tech­ni­cal eval­u­a­tion and au­dit­ing of clin­i­cal tri­al da­ta, and ap­proved reg­is­tra­tion on June 15, 2018.

Mer­ck, though, isn’t far be­hind. Bris­tol-My­ers’ big ri­val field for their ap­proval in Feb­ru­ary, which could leave them just a step be­hind Bris­tol-My­ers, if reg­u­la­tors con­tin­ue to act with a sense of ur­gency. Both for­eign and home grown bio­phar­mas see Chi­na as one of the big growth ar­eas, par­tic­u­lar­ly in on­col­o­gy, as As­traZeneca has helped high­light re­cent­ly with its own set of ris­ing num­bers.

Break­ing news: Chi­na Drug Ad­min­is­tra­tion ap­proved Op­di­vo for the 2nd line treat­ment of pa­tients with lo­cal­ly ad­vanced or metasta­t­ic NSCLC. This is the first ap­proved PD-1/L1 drug in Chi­na.

— Pharm­Cube (@pharm­cube) June 15, 2018

A California judge will allow a plaintiff in a state court case to introduce expert testimony connecting a potential carcinogen in former blockbuster medicine Zantac to cancer.

The order was handed down on Thursday from state judge Evelio Grillo, who is now allowing both parties to introduce expert testimony in an upcoming trial after what’s known as a Sargon hearing, where a judge determines the admissibility of expert witnesses and expert opinions.

Abbott is renewing its concussion awareness campaign, weeks after the company received FDA clearance for its lab-based traumatic brain injury (TBI) blood test.

The unbranded campaign features three generations of the Melon family — animated talking melons who slip on toys or take a spill while playing pickleball.

“Don’t mess with your melon. If you hit it, get it checked,” a narrator says.