Merck announced that it is not planning to file for approval of evofosfamide in advanced soft tissue sarcoma and advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma. The decision was made in light of the results from two Phase III studies of evofosfamide in combination with chemotherapy in these two types of cancer, as reported by Threshold Pharmaceuticals Inc. today. Merck will now be redeploying its resources into high-profile future products, such as avelumab* and all other priority programs in oncology, immuno-oncology and immunology.
Merck’s pharmaceutical pipeline is focusing on oncology, immuno-oncology and immunology. In immuno-oncology, Merck, together with Pfizer, is researching avelumab, an investigational anti-PD-L1 antibody, in more than 15 tumor types.
Evofosfamide (previously known as TH-302) is an investigational hypoxia-activated prodrug of a bis-alkylating agent that is preferentially activated under severe tumor hypoxic conditions, a feature of many solid tumors. Areas of low oxygen levels (hypoxia) in solid tumors are due to insufficient blood vessel supply. Similarly, the bone marrow of patients with hematological malignancies has also been shown, in some cases, to be severely hypoxic.
