Merck KGaA reveals ASCO plans
pharmafile | May 15, 2015 | News story | Sales and Marketing | ASCO, Merck, Merck KGaA, Merck Serono, avelumab
Merck KGaA is the latest company to announce its slate for this year’s ASCO conference, and like other firms it will be highlighting its immuno-oncology and precision medicine candidates.
The German company is focussing its cancer immunotherapy presentations on the investigational compound avelumab. The drug is co-developed with Pfizer and the two companies will be jointly presenting data from nine trials in a range of cancers at the conference, including gastric carcinoma and ovarian cancer.
Pfizer and Merck signed a $3 billion deal in November 2014 to co-develop it, and they have also agreed to co-promote Pfizer’s established lung cancer treatment Xalkori (crizotinib).
Luciano Rossetti, head of global research and development at Merck’s biopharma arm Merck Serono, says: “We are focussed on shedding light on difficult-to-treat cancers, such as soft tissue sarcomas and Merkel cell carcinoma, in order to make a meaningful difference for patients.”
The company will also be presenting data from the other most promising area of cancer treatment, precision medicine. Results from a study testing the drug tepotinib in patients with solid tumours that overexpress c-Met will be on show, as will several studies centered around Merck’s big-seller Erbitux (cetuximab) in RAS wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer.
Data from two Phase II studies testing evofosfamide in multiple myeloma and melanoma will also be revealed at the conference. The drug is being co-developed with Threshold Pharmaceuticals, and is currently in Phase III studies for the treatment of soft tissue sarcoma and for pancreatic cancer, as well as in a Phase II trial for the treatment of non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer.
Several other companies have already announced their ASCO line up. Roche and its subsidiary Genentech will highlight results for their under-review combination of cobimetinib and Zelboraf (vemurafenib), as well as established medicines Gazyvara (obinutuzumab) and Perjeta (pertuzumab).
Meanwhile, AstraZeneca’s presentations will centre on immuno-oncology compounds MEDI4736 and AZD9291 and AbbVie will be discussing a variety of investigational drugs for a range of cancers.
George Underwood
Related Content
TILT Biotherapeutics shares data on TILT-123 with Keytruda for ovarian cancer treatment
TILT Biotherapeutics has announced promising preliminary safety and efficacy data from its ongoing phase 1 …
FDA approves Merck’s Winrevair for PAH treatment
Merck, known as MSD outside of the US and Canada, has announced that the US …
Merck shares results for Keytruda in cervical cancer treatment
Merck, known as MSD outside of the US and Canada, has announced positive results from …
