Step aside As­traZeneca, Pfiz­er/Mer­ck KGaA jump ahead, get­ting a speedy re­view for their check­point ri­val avelum­ab

Now it’s Pfiz­er’s turn to jump in­to the hot­ly con­test­ed check­point mar­ket.

The phar­ma gi­ant and its part­ner Mer­ck KGaA say that the FDA has ac­cept­ed their first BLA for avelum­ab, with reg­u­la­tors promis­ing a speedy re­view for this lat­est check­point in­hibitor — like­ly rel­e­gat­ing As­traZeneca to an em­bar­rass­ing fifth place fin­ish for its lag­gard.

Pfiz­er and the Ger­man Mer­ck will be tak­ing a shot at first mover ad­van­tage in metasta­t­ic Merkel cell car­ci­no­ma, where in­ves­ti­ga­tors have tracked pos­i­tive da­ta in the JAVELIN Merkel 200 study. 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.

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