Bristol-Myers Squibb Company said that its marketed cancer drug Opdivo (nivolumab) has shown a significant survival benefit for patients with non-small cell lung cancer raising the possibility that it could establish a new standard of care for the disease.
Merck & Co Inc said that its checkpoint antibody Keytruda (pembrolizumab) achieved an overall response rate of 25% in patients with metastatic head and neck cancer. The Phase 1b study included 132 heavily pre-treated patients.
Roche said that its CD20 antibody obinutuzumab (Gazyva/Gazyvaro) has provided significant benefit to patients with indolent non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma paving the way for regulatory filings in the US, European Union and elsewhere.
The future of the anti-inflammatory drug brodalumab is under review following a decision by Amgen Inc to quit a co-development and commercialization agreement with AstraZeneca Plc. This follows the observation of suicidal ideation and behaviour in a Phase 3 programme.
Roche has announced that two Phase 1/2 studies of its anaplastic lymphoma kinase inhibitor (ALK) drug alectinib shrank tumours in patients with ALK-positive advanced non-small cell lung cancer whose disease had progressed following treatment with crizotinib.
Thrombogenics NV has teamed up with the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) to create a new oncology company, Oncurious NV, which will re-start development of an antibody that was once licensed to Roche. Called TB-403, the antibody targets placental growth factor.
Autifony Therapeutics Ltd has received funding to progress a second compound into clinical development that targets voltage-gated potassium channels in the brain. The indication is schizophrenia. It is already investigating a compound against the same target for hearing loss and tinnitus.
A spin-out from the University of Oxford has developed a new way of preserving livers for transplant. Instead of cooling the organs and storing them on ice, researchers have developed a device that maintains the liver in an environment that mimics that of the body.
MorphoSys has regained rights from Celgene Corp to an experimental antibody for patients with multiple myeloma following the termination of a co-development and co-promotion agreement between the two companies.
A cardiovascular outcomes study of Lyxumia (lixisenatide) in high-risk patients with Type 2 diabetes has shown that the drug is not inferior, although not superior, to placebo, according to the study’s sponsor, Sanofi SA. The Phase 3b trial is called ELIXA.