Merck (MRK) & Gilead (GILD) / Arcus Biosciences (RCUS)
Healthcare
Dr Amit Roy remains concerned over the added benefit of TIGIT to established PD1 therapy for MRK and GILD / RCUS. As expected, the street’s expectations over MRK’s TIGIT in cancer was misplaced again, as it failed to beat chemo in later line lung cancer. GILD / RCUS 1st line TIGIT data also appears equivocal with large imbalances in baseline characteristic and an underperforming PD1 arm in high PDL1 expressers. Moreover, the TIGIT + PD1 response of 41% still falls short of response rate seen with Keytruda alone. Amit also remains concerned about MRK’s prospects in first line lung, with, again disappointing response rate of just ~33% in patients naïve to PD1 therapy.
Edition: 157
- 31 March, 2023