Not Earth shaking, but good news, just the same — to be sure.

And with each positive top-line study result, the odds shorten — that Merck will ultimately be willing to pay perhaps $38 billion in cash to acquire Seagen, lock, stock and barrel. We shall see, but here is the latest, on Monday morning:

…Astellas Pharma, Seagen and Merck said Padcev and Keytruda showed a 64.5% confirmed objective response rate (ORR) in patients with a specified type of urothelial cancer.

The companies presented data from a phase 1b/2 trial, dubbed EV-103 (also known as KEYNOTE-869), Cohort K evaluating Padcev (enfortumab vedotin-ejfv) in combination with Merck’s Keytruda (pembrolizumab) and Padcev alone as first-line treatment in patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer (la/mUC) who are ineligible to receive cisplatin-based chemotherapy, at the 2022 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress….

Now you know… as the weather here now cools, we keep reflecting on moments of each passing day, in this month — all of exactly a decade ago, now… grinning ear to ear. Some things change — but some… never do.

नमस्ते