Human Trials

Pfizer, Novartis partner to advance treatment of NASH

Pfizer has signed a non-exclusive clinical development agreement with Novartis to study one or more combination therapies for the treatment of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

Novartis’ brolucizumab meets primary endpoint in phase III nAMD trial

Swiss drugmaker Novartis released additional phase III results of brolucizumab from year two, which reaffirm superiority of the drug over aflibercept in reducing retinal fluid in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD).

Esperion’s cholesterol drug bempedoic acid succeeds in phase 3 trial

Esperion’s cholesterol drug bempedoic acid has succeeded in a phase 3 trial by achieving its efficacy endpoints and other key measures in patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) and/or heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH).

Daiichi Sankyo signs clinical trial collaboration deal with Merck and Pfizer

Daiichi Sankyo has entered into a clinical trial collaboration agreement with Merck and Pfizer to evaluate the combination of its [fam-] trastuzumab deruxtecan (DS-8201) with avelumab and/or an investigational damage response (DDR) inhibitor of Merck, in patients with HER2 expressing or mutated solid tumors.

Merck’s Keytruda improves overall survival in head and neck cancer trial

Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy Keytruda has improved overall survival (OS) compared to standard of care as first line treatment for patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer (HNSCC) in the pivotal phase 3 Ketnote-048 trial.

Phase II trial of capmatinib demonstrates positive results in NSCLC

Novartis said that the phase II GEOMETRY mono-1 trial of investigational medicine capmatinib (INC280) has demonstrated positive results in patients with MET mutated advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Lynparza reduces disease progression risk in ovarian cancer study

A phase III trial has demonstrated that Lynparza maintenance therapy reduced risk of disease progression or death by 70% in patients with newly-diagnosed, advanced BRCA-mutated ovarian cancer.

Daiichi Sankyo launches phase 1 trial of DS-1205 in EGFR-mutated NSCLC

Daiichi Sankyo has dosed the first patient in a phase 1 trial evaluating its AXL inhibitor DS-1205 in combination with gefitinib in patients with metastatic or unresectable epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have progressed on therapy with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs).

Roche’s Kadcyla reduces disease recurrence risk in breast cancer study

Roche’s Kadcyla (trastuzumab emtansine) has significantly reduced the risk of disease recurrence or death compared to Herceptin (trastuzumab) in people with HER2-positive early breast cancer (eBC) in the phase III Katherine study.