Mer­ck KGaA, Pfiz­er win an­oth­er quick FDA re­view for avelum­ab; WHO tries to spur more in­cen­tives for an­tibi­otics R&D

→ Mer­ck KGaA and its Big Phar­ma part­ner Pfiz­er have won an­oth­er pri­or­i­ty re­view of their check­point in­hibitor avelum­ab. Fol­low­ing up on a speedy re­view win last No­vem­ber for in metasta­t­ic Merkel cell car­ci­no­ma, the com­pa­nies say reg­u­la­tors will be just as fast cov­er­ing their ap­pli­ca­tion for metasta­t­ic urothe­lial car­ci­no­ma (mUC) with dis­ease pro­gres­sion on or af­ter plat­inum-based ther­a­py. The part­ners are com­pet­ing with As­traZeneca for fourth place in the line­up to get a check­point out on the mar­ket. Mer­ck, Bris­tol-My­ers Squibb and Roche all got there first, but every­one’s scram­bling to stake out as much ter­ri­to­ry as pos­si­ble for a new mar­ket like­ly worth tens of bil­lions of dol­lars.

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