Patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer who were no longer responding to a class of medications known as checkpoint inhibitors, including Merck & Co.’s Keytruda, were given the experimental drug gotistobart.

BioNTech reported on Friday that a new cancer immunotherapy candidate it is developing with US partner OncoC4 Inc. shrank tumours in over 30% of trial subjects with advanced lung cancer.
Gotistobart, a research medicine, was evaluated on patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer who were no longer responding to a class of medications known as “checkpoint inhibitors,” such as Merck & Co.’s Keytruda.
According to BioNTech, a follow-up trial in the third and last stage of testing generally required for approval would begin in the third quarter of this year.