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.

Mer­ck pre­sent­ed that da­ta at AS­CO a year ago — the same day No­var­tis pre­sent­ed da­ta on their MET in­hibitor cap­ma­tinib, which showed a 68% over­all re­sponse in first-line pa­tients and 41% in sec­ond-line pa­tients. At the time, Mer­ck’s da­ta showed 59% in first-line pa­tients and 45% in sec­ond-line pa­tients. Du­ra­tion of re­sponse was sim­i­lar, al­though Mer­ck’s drug looked to be more tol­er­a­ble.

The Japan­ese de­ci­sion clears tepo­tinib as both a first and lat­er-line ther­a­py and means it will be the first of the two drugs to reach pa­tients. No­var­tis, though, has the lead on US ap­proval. Last month, the Swiss drug­mak­er filed for FDA ap­proval and won pri­or­i­ty re­view. They didn’t an­nounce a PDU­FA date, but bar­ring any pan­dem­ic-re­lat­ed dis­rup­tions or oth­er de­lays, the award should cut four months off the usu­al process and bring a de­ci­sion in Au­gust.

Mer­ck shouldn’t be far be­hind. They, like No­var­tis, won break­through sta­tus for the drug — of­ten a pre­cur­sor to pri­or­i­ty re­view — and are thought to be near­ing an FDA sub­mis­sion.

The spe­cif­ic mu­ta­tion both drugs tar­get is known as a MET ex­on 14 skip­ping mu­ta­tion. That ex­on codes for an E3 lig­ase bind­ing site, the area the body’s pro­tein degra­da­tion sys­tem latch­es on­to to dis­pose of the pro­tein. Its ab­sence has sev­er­al down­stream ef­fects, in­clud­ing an ac­cu­mu­la­tion of MET, that help give rise to can­cer.

No­var­tis CEO Vas Narasimhan in­clud­ed the com­pa­ny’s MET in­hibitor as one of sev­en po­ten­tial block­busters the com­pa­ny was hop­ing to bring on to the mar­ket in 2020. It was orig­i­nal­ly de­vel­oped by In­cyte.

The European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) recommended nine drugs for approval this week while also giving thumbs up for six expanded indications, including Novo Nordisk’s approved obesity medication Wegovy for younger people. Wegovy is already approved as an obesity treatment in the EU for adults, and the new indication would allow prescriptions for adolescents aged 12 and older.

RNA biotech GreenLight Biosciences has been handed an offer for potential acquisition.

GreenLight said in a release that it has received a non-binding “indication of interest” from Fall Line Endurance Fund to acquire GreenLight’s capital stock for $0.60 per share in cash. The release said any potential agreement between the two parties would depend on certain conditions.

Through a special committee, the biotech will evaluate the offer but added there’s no certainty a deal will go forward. GreenLight will also not make any more announcements until a deal comes through or “otherwise determines” a statement is necessary.

A public T cell biotech’s chief executive has decided to leave the company.

TScan Therapeutics said Friday morning that CEO David Southwell stepped down earlier this week, leaving both his chief executive and board member roles. Filling in is Gavin MacBeath, the company’s CSO and COO. He became the acting CEO on Tuesday, and will continue to remain CSO and COO, TScan’s announcement read.

The German life science group Sartorius will be picking up French contract manufacturer Polyplus for the price of €2.4 billion, or $2.6 billion.

On Friday, Sartorius announced the acquisition through its French subgroup, Sartorius Stedim Biotech, which will be acquiring Polyplus from private investors ARCHIMED and WP GG Holdings IV. Polyplus has 270 employees and produces materials and components that go into making viral vectors that are used in cell and gene therapies. This includes DNA/RNA reagents as well as plasmid DNA. Polyplus has locations in France, Belgium, China and the US.