Second approval under Eisai-Merck global collaboration on Lenvima

17 August 2018

Despite gaining US approval for what is considered an important added indication for its cancer drug Lenvima (lenvatinib), Japanese pharma major Eisai (TYO: 4523) saw its shares dip 1.7% to 9,569 yen by the time trading in Tokyo came to a halt today.

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the kinase inhibitor Lenvima for the first-line treatment of patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

The drug is partnered in the USA with pharma giant Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK). The two firms are working together after Merck paid $300 million, with the potential for more than $5 billion in milestones, for certain development and commercialization rights in respect of Lenvima, which was first approved in the USA as a treatment for thyroid cancer in 2015, and is approved to treat this type of cancer in over 50 countries.

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