Another setback for Bavencio
Merck study on cancer immunotherapy failed
2/8/2022, 5:01 p.m
Merck only had to cope with two study flops in connection with a cancer drug last year. The Darmstadt-based Dax company is now announcing the next defeat. The hopeful Bavencio disappointed in the treatment of lung cancer.
At Merck, the series of breakdowns in the pharmaceutical business continues. The Darmstadt-based group has suffered another serious research setback with one of its most important medicines. Cancer immunotherapy Bavencio failed in a pivotal phase 3 clinical trial comparing the drug to chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer.
The study goals in terms of overall survival and the period without progression of the disease have not been achieved, as can be seen from the quarterly report of the US pharmaceutical company Pfizer, with which Merck has been working on the drug since 2014. Merck confirmed this.
The Dax company only ended work on the cancer drug bintrafusp alfa last year after two study flops, which was also one of Merck’s hopes. With the cancer immunotherapy Bavencio, Merck was able to launch a new drug on the market for the first time in nine years. Bavencio is already approved for the treatment of some types of cancer, including bladder cancer, renal cell cancer and Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare aggressive skin tumor.
However, the market for these indications is not as large as for lung cancer – the most common type of cancer worldwide. Merck has already had to cope with a few setbacks with the drug, in which great hopes were originally placed. Studies on the treatment of ovarian cancer, on the use in previously treated patients with advanced, non-small cell lung cancer and on gastric cancer patients have failed.