Regeneron sees skin cancer potential beyond PD-1s with $250M Checkmate acquisition

Regeneron plans to show there is more to skin cancer than PD-1 inhibitors through the $250 million acquisition of Checkmate Pharmaceuticals for the lead immuno-oncology asset vidutolimod.

Vidutolimod is an agonist of a protein called toll-like receptor 9 that is delivered in a virus-like particle. The therapy is administered into tumors with the aim of inducing and expanding anti-tumor T cells in patients whose cancer has not been halted by PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors.