Novartis/BeiGene Likely To Struggle In Crowded PD-1 Space Despite Positive First-Line Data

 
• By Alaric DeArment
  
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Merck’s Keytruda and BMS’s Opdivo could be tough competitors in esophageal cancer, but the Novartis/BeiGene partnership also has an anti-TIGIT drug up its sleeve.

Snails on the athletic track moves the finish line (By Sergey Lavrentev. Shutterstock 463225937)
Novartis/BeiGene face tough competition in esophageal cancer despite positive data for tislelizumab • Source: Shutterstock

Novartis AG and BeiGene, Ltd. have positive Phase III results for the PD-1 inhibitor tislelizumab in first-line esophageal cancer that come as the US Food and Drug Administration action date for the drug in second-line disease approaches. While the agency’s nod would mark a significant milestone, making tislelizumab the first Chinese-developed checkpoint inhibitor to receive FDA approval, the drug could struggle in a crowded US market, including in the first-line setting.

Tislelizumab will also be Novartis' first checkpoint inhibitor. Even though Novartis has been an industry leader in oncology, the company...

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