Merck announced today that pembrolizumab (Keytruda) injected subcutaneously is not inferior to intravenous (IV) dosing, currently the drug’s only approved route of administration. In the phase III MK-3475A-D77 trial, researchers found that patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer who received pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy had similar blood plasma concentrations of the PD-1 inhibitor regardless of how it was given. Detailed results will be presented at an upcoming medical meeting and shared with regulatory authorities. Merck’s patent on IV pembrolizumab, which generated $25 billion in sales in 2023, will expire in 2028, but the subcutaneous form of the drug would extend its patent protection.

Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) faces a $6.7 billion lawsuit alleging that the company purposely delayed approval of Celgene-developed drugs to avoid paying Celgene shareholders owning contingent value rights (CVR), according to Reuters. An earlier suit, brought for $6.4 billion, was dismissed in late September on the grounds that the plaintiff, UMB Bank, was never properly appointed to represent the owners of CVRs and therefore lacked standing. CVRs are awarded to shareholders of a company being acquired; when BMS acquired Celgene in 2019, it guaranteed investors an additional payout pending FDA approval of three Celgene drugs, but the approval deadline was not met for lisocabtagene maraleucel (Breyanzi), a gene therapy for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. UMB Bank said it had addressed the judge’s concerns and been confirmed as a trustee, enabling the suit to proceed.