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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