Approval For Access? Decoding The Significance Of China’s Opdivo Opening

First comes the approval, then market access. A rapid regulatory clearance for BMS’s Opdivo in China not only pioneers a new and potentially huge market for immuno-oncology treatments, but may potentially set an example in how to expand market access for many new therapies waiting to get into the country, amid multiple recent regulatory and policy changes.

Trump & China
CHINA OPDIVO APPROVAL TO OPEN MORE DOORS?

China will herald a new era of cancer treatment after recently approving the first immuno-oncology therapy in the country, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.’s Opdivo (nivolumab), giving the drug access to the world’s second-largest pharma market.

The regulatory clearance, for the potentially huge non-small cell lung cancer indication, came just months after the company announced results of the CheckMate-078 study, in which 90% of participants were...

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