From
@RaceOncology in Post #:
40991462:
(read the above link for the full detail)
While we don’t have access to the internal corporate decision making history of Lederle, we do know that Bisantrene was withdrawn during a time when its parent company (American Cyanamid) was suffering major financial and legal turmoil (early 1990s). At this time AML was considered a small orphan cancer for which any new drug would make little or no profit. Looking at the corporate history of Lederle I am not surprised that Bisantrene was withdrawn, I am surprised that it made it onto the market at all! The scientists and managers at Lederle must have moved heaven and earth to get Bisantrene released given the dismal economics of chemotherapeutic agents for AML in the 1990s. Scientists 1: Bean counters 0.
Also read the history of Keytruda here. This is the biggest selling cancer drug - it was also almost lost
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davids...history-behind-mercks-new-cancer-blockbuster/
Yet the success of pembro was anything but inevitable. It was discovered accidentally, by biotech scientists looking for drugs that would tamp down the immune response in patients with autoimmune disease, and would stimulate, not block, PD1. Even after a potent PD1 inhibitor was identified and recognized as a potential cancer drug, the research program had to fight for funding through two mergers and acquisitions. After the program finally wound up at Merck, in 2009, it was considered such a low priority that it was shut down and placed on the out-license list. A term sheet (valuing the program at next to nothing) was reportedly in place, but pulled at the last minute, as promising results from competitor Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) motivated a reconsideration of the mechanism.
Now ... Keytruda has over 30 approvals ...
and projected to have USD $24.3B sales in 2026 ...
Keytruda should see 2026 proceeds of $24.3 billion, Evaluate says.
https://www.fiercepharma.com/special-report/merck-top-15-pharma-companies-by-2026-sales
(20min delay)