A more recent, and very high profile, example of this is Incyte and Merck's failed study of Incyte's IDO inhibitor in combo with Merck's PD-1 inhibitor [0] Imm

A more recent, and very high profile, example of this is Incyte and Merck's failed study of Incyte's IDO inhibitor in combo with Merck's PD-1 inhibitor [0] Immuno-oncology has been the most active area in biotech VC for years. THe excitement has been driven by PD-1 and PD-L1 studies showing dramatic benefit in many types of cancer. However only 20-50% of patients respond to these drugs, so VCs and pharma companies have been spending billions of dollars studying "combo therapies", basically regimens where you add drug x to a PD-1 inhibitor to improve effectiveness and response rate IDO was one of the most promising combo drugs. Bristol myers bought a leading IDO startup for $1B 18 months after series a. after this study pretty much all IDO programs were canned across industry. beyond that, many investors / companies now want to see that a drug works as a standalone agent, not just in combo w another drug as the paper says, there are lots of valid reasons to use innovative study designs, but proper phase 3 RCTs are importnat [0] https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180406005141/en/Incyte-Merck-Provide-Update-Phase-3-Study https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180406005141/en/Inc...