Five (Non-COVID) Clinical Trial Misses Of 2021

The coronavirus pandemic may have dominated the news in 2021, but industry’s more bread and butter R&D activities continued. Here, Scrip takes a look at five of the more notable clinical trial misses of the year that got readers clicking.

Miss a goal — Not all shots on goal are successful • Source: Alamy

A string of disappointing results for Merck KGaA’s bintrafusp alfa culminated in the termination of the German firm’s $4.2bn partnership with GlaxoSmithKline plc for the anticancer product at the end of September.

Bintrafusp alfa had been an important asset for both companies. GSK paid $360m upfront for a stake in the bifunctional...