Just A Little More Data -- Out Of AACR, In San Diego -- On Merck's Pembrolizumab (MK-3475)

I might be tempted to rather snarkily suggest that the San Diego press release -- on a Sunday afternoon -- was (in part intended as) an "innoculation" against (and to counteract) the Sunday front page NYT story -- listing $133,000 for one dose of Merck's Remicade^®, here in some for-profit outpatient infusion clinics. But I would also note that the conference in San Diego has breaking news on several other oncology candidates, too. So, worthy of reading those abstracts, too.

In any event, here it is, out of a rather general purpose MIT online tech journal -- do go read it all, but a bit follows:

. . . .Merck’s compound is an antibody, a Y-shaped biological molecule that grabs onto a specific protein. The target protein normally prevents immune cells from attacking cancer. By blocking the activity of that protein, the antibody frees the immune cell to fight the disease. Roche, GlaxoSmithKline, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and others are also developing antibodies to release such brakes on the immune system. . . .

The immune system can be a powerful ally for doctors, but they must tread carefully. “We know the immune system is capable of killing any cell. If we aren’t careful, we could trigger systemic autoimmune disease of major consequences,” says [Merck's Roger] Perlmutter. . . .

So far, the treatments have been tested on only a subset of cancer types -- mostly melanoma but also lung cancers and breast cancers, among others. Researchers will have to test the treatments on more cancer types to know how wide a range of malignancies they can attack, and whether certain targets, or even combination of targets, are needed. “It may be that in different tumor types, different immune modulators will have different importance,” says Deborah Law, who heads one of Merck’s biologics research units. “Combination approaches might be most effective,” she says. . . .

I'll remind the readership that BMS's Nivolumab is the very-likely leader, here. It should come as no surprise that at least under Dr. Perlmutter, Merck has suddenly become much more "chatty" -- about its in-process programs -- than it had ever been in the past. In contrast, meanwhile, BMS continues to adhere to that "old school" more taciturn approach -- on its clinical trial programs.

That means we saw no news on nivolumab, at the San Diego confab -- but that doesn't mean anything other than that BMS is keeping its powder dry, for June 2014. . . . And so, now we wait for June -- and Chicago's ASCO.