In two-way race with No­var­tis, Mer­ck scores first reg­u­la­to­ry ap­proval for tar­get­ed lung can­cer drug

In the two-man race to de­vel­op a new in­hibitor for an ag­gres­sive form of lung can­cer, Mer­ck KGaA has won the first reg­u­la­to­ry ap­proval.

Japan be­came the first coun­try to ap­prove the phar­ma gi­ant’s MET in­hibitor tepo­tinib, the first tar­get­ed pill for the 3 to 4% of non-small lung can­cer pa­tients with a MET mu­ta­tion. In a Phase II study pub­lished last year in Clin­i­cal On­col­o­gy, just over half of the 89 pa­tients re­spond­ed to the treat­ment. The re­sponse last­ed for a me­di­an of 9.8 months.

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