Merck KGaA (EMD Serono)

Avelumab is a PD-L1 blocker given as maintenance after chemotherapy for advanced bladder cancer, which lengthened survival by about seven months.

Cetuximab is a chimeric antibody that blocks the EGFR growth receptor. It is used with FOLFIRI or FOLFOX in RAS wild-type, left-sided bowel cancer, with encorafenib in BRAF V600E disease, with KRAS G12C inhibitors, and with radiation or chemotherapy in head and neck cancer; RAS-mutant tumours gain nothing and may be harmed, so RAS testing comes first.

Capmatinib and tepotinib are two pills for the roughly 3% of lung cancers with a MET exon 14 skipping mutation.

Nirogacestat is the first approved medicine for desmoid tumours, locally invasive growths that do not spread but can be crippling; it works by blocking Notch signalling.

Mirdametinib (Gomekli in the US, Ezmekly in Europe) is a MEK-blocking capsule or dispersible tablet for adults and children with neurofibromatosis type 1 whose plexiform neurofibromas cannot be removed surgically; it is the first such drug approved for adults.

Precemtabart tocentecan is an experimental antibody-drug conjugate from EMD Serono Research & Development Institute in phase 3 trials for colorectal cancer, aimed at CEACAM5.

Pimicotinib is an oral kinase inhibitor from Merck Healthcare KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, an affiliate of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, in registered phase 2 trials for tenosynovial giant cell tumour.

Tepotinib is a once-daily targeted pill for lung cancers driven by a MET exon 14 skipping mutation, and the MET inhibitor NICE funds in England.

Xevinapant was a tablet meant to make head and neck cancer cells easier to kill with chemoradiation by removing the proteins that stop them dying. A promising mid-stage trial was followed by a phase 3 that was stopped in 2024 because it was not working.