Novartis records another tislelizumab win en route to bringing BeiGene's PD-1 to FDA's doors

The latest crop of data is out for Novartis and BeiGene’s tislelizumab as the partners look to pad their case for the PD-1 inhibitor’s expansion beyond China.

When combined with chemotherapy, the drug “significantly improved” the overall survival of patients with previously untreated unresectable, locally advanced, recurrent or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) compared to chemo alone. That means the drug met its primary goal, according to the topline results reported by the Swiss Big Pharma Wednesday, in the Phase III RATIONALE 306 study, one of the drug’s more than a dozen late-stage trials across 35 countries.