Merck's 2021 ~$11 Billion Acceleron Bet Is Already Paying Off... Sotatercept Posts Very Good Phase III Study Outcome: Li...

This is a relief, for Merck. Not that it cannot afford ~$11 billion between friends, but much better for the shareholders that it won't turn out to be a dry hole in the ground, now.

Here is our 2021 concluding backgrounder on the orginal acquisition deal back and forth (and to be sure, there are about 10 more if you search the name "Acceleron" in the box in the title bar, at above left). And here is Fierce Biotech -- with all the morning's deets:

. . .Cardiovascular med sotatercept passed a phase 3 test as an add-on treatment for patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), improving patients' six-minute walk distance after 24 weeks, the company reported Monday. Sotatercept also showed statistical significance on eight of nine secondary endpoints.

In a release, President of Merck Research Labs Dean Li, highlighted the med's ability to extend time to a clinical worsening event, saying that was “especially noteworthy.” There was no statistically significant improvement in patients’ score of their cognitive and emotional state, the sole secondary endpoint failure. The company did not expand on the drug’s safety profile but said it was similar, “in general,” to the phase 2 safety profile.

“We are moving with urgency on our regulatory applications to bring this investigational therapy to these patients,” Li said. . . .

Now you know -- smiling on a perfectly sunny and cool fall Monday morning, here. . . . may fly to the Rockies for a quick visit this weekend (take my mom to see the changing aspens). . . we shall see



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