Eleven drugmakers will team up with the National Institutes of Health on a five-year initiative to fast track research on cancer immunotherapy treatments, reports Reuters.
Here are four things to know.
1. The Partnership for Accelerating Cancer Therapies is part of the Cancer Moonshot program launched under the Obama administration.
2. Through the $215 million initiative, researchers will study chemical signatures in the body that help identify patients who will benefit from cancer immunotherapy.
3. Participating drugmakers include AbbVie, Roche, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Amgen, Celgene Corp., Gilead Sciences and GlaxoSmithKline. Merck, which sells the popular cancer immunotherapy Keytruda, is not involved with the initiative.
4. Drug companies will contribute $55 million to the research initiative, and NIH will provide the remaining $160 million, based on the availability of funds.