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Merck & Hengrui

Merck Partners with Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals for HRS-5346, Expanding its Cardio-Metabolic Portfolio

Shots: Merck has entered into an exclusive license agreement with Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals for HRS-5346 As per the deal, Merck has obtained exclusive rights to develop, manufacture & commercialize HRS-5346 globally excl. Greater China region in exchange for $200M upfront & ~$1.77B in development, regulatory & commercial milestones, along with net sales-based royalties; closing expected…

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Merck

Merck Reports P-III (MK-8591A-052 & MK-8591A-051) Trial Data of Doravirine + Islatravir (DOR/ISL) for HIV-1 Infection in Adults

Shots: Merck has reported 2 P-III (MK-8591A-052 & MK-8591A-051) trial data assessing DOR/ISL (100mg/0.25mg, QD, PO) in HIV-1 infected adults; MAA submission to begin by mid-2025    MK-8591A-052 assessed it vs BIC/FTC/TAF (50mg/200mg/25mg) in adults (n=513), meeting its 1EP with 1.5% subjects on DOR/ISL having a viral load ≥50 copies/mL vs 0.6% at 48wks. It…

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Merck

Merck Reports P-III (MK-8591A-052 & MK-8591A-051) Trial Data of Doravirine + Islatravir (DOR/ISL) for HIV-1 Infection in Adults

Shots: Merck has reported 2 P-III (MK-8591A-052 & MK-8591A-051) trial data assessing DOR/ISL (100mg/0.25mg, QD, PO) in HIV-1 infected adults; MAA submission to begin by mid-2025 MK-8591A-052 assessed it vs BIC/FTC/TAF (50mg/200mg/25mg) in adults (n=513), meeting its 1EP with 1.5% subjects on DOR/ISL having a viral load ≥50 copies/mL vs 0.6% at 48wks. It…

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Kelun Biotech

China’s NMPA Approves Kelun-Biotech’s Sacituzumab Tirumotecan (sac-TMT) for EGFR-mutant NSCLC

Shots: China’s NMPA has approved label expansion of sacituzumab tirumotecan (SKB264/MK-2870) to locally advanced or metastatic (LA/M) EGFRm NSCLC following disease progression on EGFR-TKI therapy or Pt-based Ct Approval was based on OptiTROP-Lung03 trial assessing sac-TMT alone (5mg/kg, IV, Q2W) vs docetaxel in mentioned pts, where it demonstrated improved ORR, PFS & OS sac-TMT is…

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Merck

Merck Reports the US FDA’s sBLA Acceptance of Neoadjuvant Keytruda with Priority Review for Locally Advanced Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (LA-HNSCC)

Shots: The US FDA has accepted sBLA & granted priority review to neoadj. Keytruda followed by adj. Keytruda + SoC radiotherapy ± cisplatin & then as a single agent to treat operable LA-HNSCC (PDUFA: Jun 23, 2025) sBLA was based on P-III (KEYNOTE-689) trial data assessing neoadj. Keytruda (200mg, IV, Q3W × 2 cycles), followed by…

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Epitopea & Merck

Epitopea Partners with Merck to Discover Cryptigen Tumor-Specific Antigens

Shots: Epitopea & Merck have entered into license & research collaboration agreement to discover Cryptigen tumor-specific antigens (TSAs) in an undisclosed solid tumor As per the deal, Epitopea will receive an undisclosed upfront & ~$300M in milestones per product in exchange for Merck receiving exclusive development & commercialization rights to the TSA products identified…

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Merck

Merck Receives the EC’s Approval for Welireg (Belzutifan) for Von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) Disease-Associated Tumors and Previously Treated Renal Cell Carcinoma

Shots: The EC has approved Welireg for VHL-related localized RCC, CNS hemangioblastomas, or pNET unsuitable for localized procedures and advanced ccRCC post-PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors or VEGF therapies progression across EU member states, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein & Norway Approval for VHL-related tumors was based on P-II (LITESPARK-004) study (n=61), showing ORR of 49% (all…

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Merck

Merck Initiates P-III (waveLINE-010) Trial of Zilovertamab Vedotin to Treat Previously Untreated Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL)

Shots: Merck initiated P-III (waveLINE-010) trial to assess zilovertamab vedotin (ROR1- ADC) + R-CHP (Rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin & prednisone) vs R-CHOP (R-CHP + vincristine) to treat pts with previously untreated DLBCL; global enrolment is ongoing Trial will enrol ~1,046 pts to assess PFS as the 1EP, with 2EPs incl. OS, event-free survival, duration of…

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