Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. has sprinted to an early lead in the race to sell a new class of cancer treatment by bucking the trend toward precision medicine.
For years, drug companies tried to sell medicines to as many patients as possible. More recently, under pressure from health insurers aiming to improve the odds a costly drug will work, many pharmaceutical companies have been pairing their new therapies with diagnostic tests identifying patients best suited for the treatment.
Merck & Co., Bristol’s chief cancer-drug competitor, has pursued such a “precision medicine” approach while selling its new lung-cancer drug, which harnesses the immune system to attack tumors.
But in selling its similar therapy, Bristol has outflanked Merck partly by sticking to the old, mass-marketing approach.
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