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British drug giant GlaxoSmithKline is hoping to take on prominent rivals such as U.S.-based Johnson & Johnson with an experimental treatment for multiple myeloma, a rare blood cancer.
GSK said that its multiple myeloma treatment belantamab mafodotin was effective in patients who had already received a half dozen (or even more) other therapies, suggesting it could be effective in those with the most stubborn forms of the disease. And the company is submitting it for Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval.
“Patients with multiple myeloma whose disease has progressed despite currently available therapy have limited options and poor outcomes,” said GSK’s R&D chief Hal Barron in a statement.
The five-year survival rate (post-diagnosis) for multiple myeloma patients exceeds 50%; however, that number can drop off substantially depending on the severity of the disease and individual patients’ circumstances.
If approved, Glaxo’s drug will be facing up against earlier market entrants including Johnson & Johnson’s Darzalex. However, GSK’s treatment, a so-called “anti-B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA)” therapy, has a significantly different action mechanism. And the company is banking on the hopes that it can go toe-to-toe with its rivals in earlier stages of the cancer.
Read on for the day’s news.
Sy Mukherjee
sayak.mukherjee@fortune.com
@the_sy_guy
DIGITAL HEALTH
The game-changing medical advances of the past decade. What were the biggest medical advances and game-changing drugs of the past decade? I asked, and you answered. To be clear, this is nothing approaching a comprehensive list—consider it a small cheat sheet. But the most common replies seemed to include HIV prevention medication, gene therapies, cancer immunotherapy, and technologies which reduce the need for invasive surgery. Check out the whole list here. (Fortune)
THE BIG PICTURE
Gun violence research to be funded for the first time in 20 years. Congress has reached a government spending deal that would finance gun violence research, on a federal level, for the first time in more than two decades. It's not a whole lot of money given the scope of America's gun violence epidemic—about $25 million—but it isn't, well, zero. (Nature)
REQUIRED READING
House Passes $1.4 Trillion Spending Bill, by The Associated Press
The Emerging Disconnect Between Business and Academic Interests in A.I., by Jeremy Kahn
Multiple Tech Companies Including Microsoft, Tesla, Alphabet Sued for Allegedly Profiting off Child Labor, by Vivienne Walt
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