GSK nabs speedy review for one of its top prospects

With a new research team, outlook and more than a little help from the tech world, GSK has been quietly going about shoring up its pipeline. After seeming to turn away from oncology R&D under its old CEO Sir Andrew Witty a few years ago, new CEO and R&D head Emma Walmsley and Hal Barron, respectively, have made powering their pipeline out of the slow lane the priority. Today, GSK announced that one of its top prospects (and a drug Barron has singled out in the past) has been handed an FDA priority review. The speedy appraisal is for its BCMA therapy belantamab mafodotin in relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, after releasing initial results last summer where it hit its primary goal and demonstrated a “clinically meaningful overall response rate.”