Merck Regains Global Rights to PD-L1 Inhibitor Bavencio Following Termination of Alliance with Pfizer

On March 27, Merck KGaA announced that it has regained global exclusive rights for the development, production, and commercialization of PD-L1 monoclonal antibody Bavencio (avelumab) after terminating the alliance agreement with Pfizer.

Starting from June 30, 2023, Merck will fully assume global commercialization of Bavencio through its affiliate Ares Trading S.A. Merck and Pfizer will continue to implement their respective ongoing clinical trials related to Bavencio, and Merck will be responsible for all future R&D activities. Currently, product manufacturing and supply chain will remain entirely under the responsibility of Merck to ensure patients have long-term and reliable access to Bavencio.

Bavencio was discovered internally by Merck KGaA, and in 2014, Merck KGaA and Pfizer formed an alliance to co-develop and commercialize Bavencio, accelerating the development of the anti-PD-L1 antibody. Bavencio is widely recognized in international guidelines as the standard for first-line maintenance treatment in adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (UC) who have not progressed following platinum-based chemotherapy. The combination of Bavencio and axitinib has been approved for first-line treatment of adult patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Additionally, Bavencio is authorized as a monotherapy for adult patients with metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC).

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