Akeso Wins US Approval For PD-1 Antibody In NPC, Partly On US Data

Akeso has garnered a regulatory nod for penpulimab from the US Food and Drug Administration, making the agent the second PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor originating from a Chinese drug maker in the US market for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), a rare form of head and neck cancer in mostly Western populations.

Akeso generated the first positive clinical evidence worldwide supporting the first-line use of an anti-PD-1/L1 agent in this form of solid tumor, in a multinational Phase III study that included...