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Modeling Is Not a Drug Approval Pathway: Why Merck Flunked Keytruda’s TNBC Advisory Panel

 
• By Sarah Karlin-Smith

Advisory panel agrees with US FDA that Merck’s pathological complete response data is not strong enough for accelerated approval in high-risk, early-stage triple-negative breast cancer patients and says modeling of expected outcomes data cannot make up for this weakness.

photo illustration/shutterstock
Keytruda may have a long road ahead for its next approval after a stop at ODAC. • Source: photo illustration/Shutterstock

The US Food and Drug Administration’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee voted unanimously in favor of delaying an approval decision on Merck & Co., Inc.’s Keytruda (pembrolizumab) for treatment of high-risk, early-stage triple-negative breast cancer, siding with the agency’s position that modeling cannot substitute for completed clinical trial data.

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More from US FDA Performance Tracker

AMR-Targeting Drug Secures EMA PRIME Designation

 
• By Neena Brizmohun

Antabio’s next-generation, broad-spectrum antibacterial, MEM-ANT3310, has made it onto the European Medicines Agency’s priority medicines scheme. The company says its product is designed to make a significant impact on the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance.

US FDA’s Review Performance Held Steady Despite Stormy First Quarter

 
• By Bridget Silverman

Organizational turmoil has not yet affected reviews of novel agent applications, with Q1 2025 approvals coming in low, but the first quarter share of the entire year is variable.

‘Pipeline In A Pill’ Or Pipe Dream? US FDA’s April Goal Dates Test Expansion Strategies

 
• By Bridget Silverman

Sanofi’s Dupixent, Amgen’s Uplizna, and Bristol’s Opdivo seek new indications, while J&J hopes to start a franchise with nipocalimab and Stealth’s day of reckoning approaches.

US FDA’s March Approval Candidates Take Aim At Established Markets

 
• By Bridget Silverman

March features nearly 20 user fee goal dates, including a crowd of novel candidates for crowded areas like hemophilia, heart disease and urinary tract infections, as well as the potentially first therapies for a rare eye disease and hyperphagia of Prader-Willi syndrome.

More from Regulatory Trackers

‘Pipeline In A Pill’ Or Pipe Dream? US FDA’s April Goal Dates Test Expansion Strategies

 
• By Bridget Silverman

Sanofi’s Dupixent, Amgen’s Uplizna, and Bristol’s Opdivo seek new indications, while J&J hopes to start a franchise with nipocalimab and Stealth’s day of reckoning approaches.

Global Pharma Guidance Tracker – February 2025

 
• By Vibha Sharma and Anabel Costa-Ferreira

Stay up to date on regulatory guidelines from around the world with the Pink Sheet's Guidance Tracker. The complete Global Pharma Guidance Tracker, with sortable and searchable listings going back to 2014, is available online.

EU CHMP Opinions And MAA Updates

 
• By Neena Brizmohun

This is an update of recommendations from the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use on the authorization of new medicines in the EU, and updates on EU marketing authorization changes recommended by the CHMP.