No­var­tis’ PD-(L)1 catch-up at­tempt stum­bles in PhI­II

No­var­tis’ 5-year-long quest to play catch-up in PD-(L)1 has failed in its first Phase III tri­al.

In a study on late-stage melanoma pa­tients, adding their PD-1 an­ti­body spar­tal­izum­ab to two ap­proved tar­get­ed ther­a­pies proved no more ef­fec­tive than giv­ing those ther­a­pies alone. The 568-per­son tri­al missed its pri­ma­ry end­point, pro­gres­sion-free sur­vival.

The fail­ure is a blow for No­var­tis. They, like the oth­er phar­ma gi­ants left out of the first wave of check­point ther­a­pies, had hoped to bring to mar­ket a ri­val that could have com­pet­ed with the block­busters from Mer­ck, Roche, As­traZeneca and Bris­tol My­ers Squibb. Un­like Eli Lil­ly or Glax­o­SmithK­line, which bought out or part­nered with biotechs, they de­cid­ed to de­vel­op a can­di­date in house.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER