GSK’s long-qui­et can­cer R&D group is ready to make some noise as it mounts a break­out late-stage ef­fort

SAN FRAN­CIS­CO — Four years af­ter GSK swapped out its com­mer­cial port­fo­lio of can­cer drugs to No­var­tis, new CEO Em­ma Walm­s­ley is now ready to fos­ter a glob­al role for the can­cer re­search group that was left in the pa­tient hands of Ax­el Hoos.

The star pro­gram be­longs to a BC­MA an­ti­body-drug con­ju­gate ti­tled GSK2857916, new­ly equipped with the FDA’s break­through des­ig­na­tion for the hard­est cas­es of mul­ti­ple myelo­ma. Hoos, who now works for can­cer drug leg­end Hal Bar­ron, be­lieves that his team is on pace to steer this to an ap­proval and launch in 2020. And the on­col­o­gy chief is now busi­ly look­ing to beef up the can­cer drug pipeline with new deals.

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