Pfizer And Merck & Co. Go For An Even Longer Throw Of The Javelin

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and Merck KGaA’s (OTCPK:MKGAF)(OTCPK:MKGAY) tweaks to the Javelin Lung 100 study of their PD-L1 antibody avelumab, which will delay its readout by almost two years, look like a painful but necessary adjustment to commercial realities in this competitive cancer indication. The changes will more than double the size of the study, in first-line non-small cell lung cancer, and push data out to mid-2019.