Noted

Sanofi announced it will acquire Kymab for $1.1 billion and up to $350 million in milestone payments. Kymab's pipeline includes KY1044, an anti-ICOS antibody being tested alone and in combination with a PD-L1 inhibitor in advanced solid cancers. KY1044 preferentially depletes intratumoral regulatory T cells and stimulates ICOS-positive effector T cells.

Novartis will pay BeiGene $650 million up front and as much as $1.55 billion in milestone payments for the PD-1 inhibitor tislelizumab. Novartis will acquire rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialize the drug in North America, Japan, the European Union, and six other European countries. Tislelizumab is approved in China for certain forms of classic Hodgkin lymphoma, urothelial carcinoma, and non–small cell lung cancer.

The American Cancer Society (ACS) reported that the cancer mortality rate decreased by 2.4% from 2017 to 2018 in the United States, the biggest single-year drop on record (CA Cancer J Clin 2021;71:7–33). The ACS estimated that there will be 1.9 million cancer diagnoses and 600,000 cancer-related deaths in 2021, but the projections don't account for the COVID-19 pandemic, which has disrupted cancer screenings and care.

For more news on cancer research, visit Cancer Discovery online at http://cancerdiscovery.aacrjournals.org/CDNews.