At a quick glance, the Food and Drug Administration’s decision to ask its advisers for help in vetting yet another cancer immunotherapy may seem odd.
After all, the agency has already cleared seven drugs that work like the one it’s now reviewing. Known as sintilimab and developed by Eli Lilly and partner Innovent Biologics, the immunotherapy blocks a protein called PD-1, the same as Merck & Co.’s Keytruda and Bristol Myers Squibb’s Opdivo. Typically, the FDA reserves its advisory committee meetings for tough decisions on which it wants help from outside experts.
