Pfiz­er, Mer­ck KGaA score a land­mark FDA OK for check­point con­tender avelum­ab

Mer­ck KGaA and Pfiz­er have done it.

The bio­phar­ma part­ners came away with their first FDA ap­proval of the check­point in­hibitor avelum­ab, mak­ing it the fourth drug in this cat­e­go­ry to make it to the mar­ket. They beat As­traZeneca, which will now an­gle for its first ap­proval of dur­val­um­ab as the 5th check­point.

The FDA gave out its ap­proval for Merkel cell car­ci­no­ma un­der an ac­cel­er­at­ed ap­proval process. The ther­a­py, the first for a rare form of skin can­cer, has al­so been giv­en break­through drug sta­tus. The drug is cur­rent­ly in 30 clin­i­cal pro­grams as the two play­ers look to wedge their way in­to a multi­bil­lion-dol­lar mar­ket for drugs that are gain­ing wide use in treat­ing can­cer.

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