A bold headline frames the issue: a promising leukemia drug from Terns Pharmaceuticals could reshape the market, potentially taking the baton from a Novartis blockbuster.
Adam Feuerstein is a veteran biotech journalist who covers the intersection of drug development, business strategy, and Wall Street dynamics. He also co-hosts the weekly biotech podcast The Readout Loud and writes the Adam’s Biotech Scorecard newsletter. He can be reached via Signal at stataf.54.
In Orlando, Florida, Terns Pharmaceuticals released new data on its targeted leukemia therapy, showing that the drug sustained and even increased molecular response rates in patients with advanced disease.
Although early, the results are already likely to amplify the enthusiasm of investors who view Terns’ drug as a possible successor to a major Novartis-era blockbuster.
At the 24-week mark, four escalating doses of the investigational agent, named TERN-701, produced a major molecular response in 64% of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), a slow-growing cancer that originates in myeloid cells. Among 28 evaluable patients, most had previously taken a median of three different therapies.
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