FDA approves GSK's BCMA drug, marking a rocky return to cancer for the British giant
Despite concerns on both safety and efficacy, the FDA approved GlaxoSmithKline’s multiple myeloma drug belantamab mafodotin, deciding that for the sickest patients the benefits outweighed the risk. It will be marketed as Blenrep and sold for $23,900 per month.
The approval is notable both for the multiple myeloma field and for GSK itself. It’s the first approval for a drug that targets BCMA, a protein overexpressed on multiple myeloma cells that researchers have been trying to target for over a decade. A flurry of other BCMA drugs, having already shown promise in early trials, are likely to follow in the next few years.
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