Mer­ck­'s CMV drug is ap­proved for kid­ney trans­plant pa­tients

Mer­ck grabbed an­oth­er in­di­ca­tion for its cy­tomegalovirus (CMV) treat­ment Pre­vymis — this time to pre­vent CMV dis­ease in adult kid­ney trans­plant re­cip­i­ents, fol­low­ing a pri­or­i­ty re­view by the FDA.

The an­tivi­ral agent, al­so known as leter­movir, was first ap­proved in 2017 for the pre­ven­tion of CMV in al­lo­gene­ic hematopoi­et­ic stem cell trans­plant pa­tients, mark­ing the first new CMV ther­a­py to come along in 15 years, ac­cord­ing to Mer­ck. The com­pa­ny pur­chased world­wide rights to the drug from Ai­Curis in 2012 in a $500 mil­lion-plus deal.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER