No­var­tis brings BeiGene's promis­ing check­point in­hibitor in­to the fold, but what about high­ly tout­ed spar­tal­izum­ab?

Ar­riv­ing on the Chi­nese mar­ket among a wave of PD-1 check­point in­hibitors in late 2019, BeiGene’s tislelizum­ab has earned lau­rels for its out­stand­ing da­ta and broad pipeline. Now, No­var­tis has signed a deal to take BeiGene’s drug abroad in what could be seen as a snub for its own tout­ed in-house PD-1 an­ti­body.

No­var­tis will drop $650 mil­lion in up­front cash for com­mer­cial and co-de­vel­op­ment rights to most ma­jor mar­kets out­side of Chi­na for tislelizum­ab, a PD-1 check­point in­hibitor that al­ready sports mar­ket­ing ap­proval in Chi­na for non-Hodgkin’s lym­phoma and metasta­t­ic urothe­lial car­ci­no­ma, the Swiss drug­mak­er said Mon­day.

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