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Akeso Wins China Phase I Clearance for AK158D1 Bispecific ADC
Akeso has secured Phase I clinical trial clearance in China for AK158D1, a bispecific antibody drug conjugate targeting EGFR and TROP2 in advanced solid tumors. The clearance puts fresh attention on the company's pipeline as it pushes deeper into IO2.0 and ADC2.0. Akeso's shares recently traded at HK$90.5, up 3.37% over 90 days but down 20.12% year to date, against a consensus analyst price target of HK$158.28, with the most bullish target at HK$226.04 and the most bearish at HK$125.08. The company remains exposed to execution setbacks given its reliance on a handful of key drugs and a current net loss of CN¥967.2 million.
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FDA Grants Full Approval to Lilly's Inluriyo Plus Verzenio for ESR1-Mutated Breast Cancer
Eli Lilly and Company announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted full approval to Inluriyo, or imlunestrant, in combination with Verzenio, or abemaciclib, for adults with ER-positive, HER2-negative, ESR1-mutated locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer whose disease progressed after at least one line of endocrine therapy. The decision rests on the Phase 3 EMBER-3 trial, in which the combination doubled median progression-free survival versus Inluriyo alone, at 11.1 months versus 5.5 months, with a hazard ratio of 0.53 and a 95% confidence interval of 0.35 to 0.80, among the 159 patients with ESR1-mutated metastatic breast cancer. In that trial, 92 patients received Inluriyo alone and 67 received the combination after an aromatase inhibitor, with or without a CDK4/6 inhibitor, in either the adjuvant or metastatic setting. The approval marks the second FDA clearance for Inluriyo in less than a year, following its September 2025 monotherapy approval for the same ER-positive, HER2-negative, ESR1-mutated metastatic population. Inluriyo is also being studied in the Phase 3 EMBER-4 trial in the adjuvant setting for ER-positive, HER2-negative early-stage breast cancer, the largest adjuvant oral SERD trial with more than 8,000 patients enrolled across 650-plus sites in more than 30 countries, with initial results anticipated in 2027. The combination is now available in the United States.
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Merck Rises as Keytruda Space Research Seeks New Orbital Home
Merck shares rose approximately 1.0% to $146.39 Thursday as the pharmaceutical and oncology heavyweight entered the next era of commercial space research, with its blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda already benefiting from work conducted in orbit. Research aboard the International Space Station helped scientists better understand protein crystallization, contributing to the development of a faster subcutaneous formulation of Keytruda, and NASA's research overview explains that microgravity can produce larger and more orderly protein crystals, potentially giving researchers clearer structural information. As the ISS approaches retirement, commercial stations could offer drugmakers dedicated equipment and more predictable research schedules, although regulators still lack a purpose-built approval framework for medicines manufactured in space. The commercial stakes are already enormous: Keytruda generated about $8.37 billion of Merck's latest $16.61 billion quarter, roughly half of total revenue, while the subcutaneous version contributed $463 million, or around 5.5% of Keytruda sales. At $146.39, Merck trades 21.85% above its GF Value estimate of $120.14, signaling that investors are already paying a meaningful premium to the model's estimate of fair value.