Regeneron’s quest to prove everyone wrong

Does the world need a sixth checkpoint inhibitor? Regeneron, which won FDA approval for such a cancer therapy last year, believes the answer is yes. And this morning, we’ll get some early returns on whether the world agrees.

The company is slated to report its fourth-quarter results, which means we’ll get a glimpse at the first three months of sales for Libtayo, Regeneron’s PD-1 inhibitor that competes against similar drugs from Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Roche, AstraZeneca, and Pfizer.

Cracking that market — let alone disrupting the Merck-Bristol duopoly — would seem an impossible task, but Regeneron believes it’s designed a clever enough development strategy to more than catch up. The long term involves combinations not yet approved, but the short term relies on delivering sales in an indication with no competition — cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma — and today’s numbers will provide the first clues as to whether the Libtayo plan has a future.