European Oncology Biotechs Start Ominous ‘Strategic Reviews’ To Survive

The European biotech environment seems to be enjoying something of a revival but it has been a chastening week for three of the continent’s cancer-focused companies that have been forced to look at alternatives to stay afloat.

Norway’s BerGenBio is thinking of a “potential sale, merger or other strategic transaction” after announcing that it was halting a Phase Ib/IIa study of its lead asset bemcentinib in combination with standard of care chemo-immunotherapy – Merck & Co’s Keytruda (pembrolizumab) plus carboplatin/pemetrexed – for the first-line treatment of patients with non-squamous non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have a mutation in the STK11 gene