MSD terminated five mid-to-late-stage clinical programs in its Q2 pipeline update, including Phase II studies of CTLA-4 inhibitor MK-1308 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and IL-2 fusion protein MK-6194 for lupus/vitiligo, plus Phase III trials of HER3-targeted antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) MK-1022 in NSCLC and lenvatinib combo MK-7902 in oesophageal cancer. The HER3 ADC MK-1022, acquired from Daiichi Sankyo in a USD 22 billion deal, is being withdrawn after failing to show overall survival benefits in confirmatory trials.

The CTLA-4 program MK-1308, licensed from Akeso Biopharma in 2015, continues in Phase III for renal cell carcinoma despite the NSCLC halt. MSD also scrapped the Pandion-acquired MK-6194 despite early Treg expansion data. Lenvatinib's oesophageal cancer trial LEAP-014 was dropped despite tolerable safety in Phase Ib.

These cuts reflect MSD's pipeline prioritization amid competitive pressures in oncology and immunology.

PharmCube's NextBiopharm® database shows that MSD's pipeline includes 218 projects still in development, mostly in the pre-clinical stage. Click here to request a free trial for NextBiopharm®.