Stand Up to Cancer Canada, the Canadian Cancer Society and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research launched a "dream team" to investigate a new way to treat metastatic breast cancer by making it impossible for the cancer cells to manufacture the proteins they need to continue to spread. The team will receive up to CA$6 million (US$4.5 million), with the first phase of CA$2 million supporting an initial clinical trial. The pan-Canadian trial will involve about 40 patients receiving treatment at the BC Cancer Agency in Vancouver, the University of Alberta in Edmonton and McGill University in Montreal. The team is investigating whether eFT-508 (tomivosertib), a small-molecule inhibitor of the kinases MNK 1 and 2, can block the out-of-control production of proteins that allows the cancer to metastasize. Known to inhibit the mRNA translational process, tomivosertib has not yet been used in metastatic breast cancer. In the trial, it will be given in combination with paclitaxel or nab-paclitaxel to metastatic breast cancer patients who have not responded to the standard of care.

Applying the doctrine of equivalents, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit agreed with a lower court that 505(b)(2) new drug applications from Hospira Inc. and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. infringe the '209 patent on Eli Lilly and Co.'s cancer drug Alimta (pemetrexed). The patent claims "an improved method of treatment with antifolates, particularly pemetrexed disodium, through supplementation with a methylmalonic acid lowering agent and folic acid. Doing so, according to the patent, lessens antifolate toxicity without sacrificing efficacy," according to court documents.