Checkpoint's latecomer could draw interest

The FDA approval of Unloxcyt, the eleventh PD-(L)1 blocker, looks likely to have come too late to save its developer, Checkpoint Therapeutics. But the product might appeal to bigger players that have missed the checkpoint inhibitor bandwagon, especially as it could be picked up for a bargain price. Checkpoint had just $4.7m in cash at the end of September; despite raising another $9.2m in November through the exercise of warrants, a solo launch looks out of the question. Potential buyers could include Novartis, which has had two ill-fated bites at the checkpoint cherry: first with the in-house spartalizumab, and then with the BeiGene-originated tislelizumab (which, after Novartis handed back rights, was approved as Tevimbra). Pfizer is another big player to lack an approved checkpoint inhibitor, but its subcutaneous contender sasanlimab is already in phase 3, so looks a less likely contender. Other large groups with low-key anti-PD-(L)1 assets, largely being tested in combos, include AbbVie (budigalimab), Johnson & Johnson (cetrelimab) and Boehringer (ezabenlimab). And Sanofi is a free agent here after handing Regeneron full rights to Libtayo in 2022, but might not want to re-enter the PD-(L)1 fray, and in any case has moved away from oncology in recent years.

Selected anti-PD-(L)1 latecomers

Source: OncologyPipeline.