PD-L1 checkpoint player Merck KGaA dives into next-gen work with F-star collaboration
CHICAGO — Not all the biotech news on cancer drugs this past weekend is directly related to the big ASCO confab in Chicago. Cambridge, UK-based F-star parachuted in news of its latest tie-up, this one a buy-in from Merck KGaA, which picked up rights to a lead bispecific checkpoint drug.
Merck KGaA and its Big Pharma partner Pfizer recently hit the market with one of the first 5 checkpoints, the PD-L1 drug Bavencio (avelumab). Now it’s looking past that initial market entry into the next-gen therapies making their way into the clinic. And it picked up an option on a preclinical LAG-3, PD-L1 bispecific at F-star called FS118. In addition, Merck KGaA gets an option on 4 other preclinical therapies — all unspecified i/o drugs.
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