US FDA grants fast track for Merck, Pfizer's drug to treat rare skin cancer

8 October 2015

Germany’s Merck KGaA (MRK: DE) and US pharma giant Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) said the US Food and Drug Administration has granted fast track designation for avelumab, their trial stage immunotherapy for the treatment of rare skin cancer.

Fast Track is designed to facilitate the development, and expedite the review, of drugs to treat serious conditions and address an unmet medical need, the companies said in a joint statement.

The decision to fast track the development of the drug comes close on the heels of the FDA assigning avelumab orphan drug status in September.

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